Girl G33k

Manga for Sale

2011-12-07T17:23:00.009-06:00

Hey gang! Woooow it's been so long since I've used this blog. I have some extra manga for sale! I really need to clear out some space, and get some pocket cash in the process. This list may be updated as I unearth other titles I want to get rid of. If you're international, and you MUST have one of these books, I will ship it to you if you cover the extra shipping cost. I'll accept Paypal, or you can mail me cash if you want, but I won't ship the book until I've received it. For my Paypal or mailing address, please email me at: kristin AT comicattack DOT net.

All titles are very gently used or like new, unless noted otherwise. You can find reviews of most of them by me at comicattack.net.

A Strange and Mystifying Story volume 3, from DMP (yaoi, 18+ only please), plastic wrapped - $5.50

Kamisama Kiss volume 5, from Viz Media - $5.50

Ai Ore! Love Me volume 2, from Viz Media - $6

Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack volume 16, from Vertical Inc. - $7

Itazura na Kiss volume 1, from DMP - $7

Itazura na Kiss volume 2, from DMP - $7

No Longer Human volume 1, from Vertical - $5.50

Color, from DMP (yaoi, 18+ only please) - $5.50

Green Light, from DMP (yaoi LN, 18+ only please) (this one has a small ferret bite mark near the spine; it only goes through about 3-4 pages on the front and back, so it doesn't interfere with the text or art inside) - $5

Case Closed, from Viz Media - $5.50

Cold Fever, from DMP (yaoi LN, 18+ only please) (this is the final book of a trilogy) - $5

PR: Viz Media Simulcasts Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan

2010-07-08T12:27:00.003-05:00

PRESS RELEASE

VIZ MEDIA SIMULCASTS EXCLUSIVE NEW ANIME SERIES NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN ON VIZANIME.COM

Supernatural Action Adventure Launched Simultaneously In Japan And U.S.; First Episode Available To Stream Now

San Francisco, CA, July 6, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the launch of a brand new anime series – NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN – on VIZAnime.com, the company’s premier website for anime. The first subtitled episode of the new fantasy action-adventure series about a junior high school student that is part human and part yokai (supernatural demon), premiered for free after the series debut in Japan; free new episodes will be simulcast mere hours after it airs in Japan each Monday.

NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, based on the best selling Nurarihyon no Mago manga series in Japan, is being offered under the SHONEN JUMP imprint, home to other exciting properties including BLEACH and NARUTO. While the day belongs to humans, the night belongs to yokai, supernatural creatures that thrive on human fear. Caught between these worlds is Rikuo Nura. He's three-quarters human, but his grandfather is none other than Nurarihyon, the supreme commander of the Nura clan, a powerful yokai consortium. So, Rikuo is an ordinary teenager three quarters of the time, until his yokai blood awakens. Then he transforms into the future leader of the Nura clan, leading a hundred demons.

“We are pleased to expand the line-up on VIZAnime.com with the exclusive simulcast of NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, reaffirming our commitment to bringing the latest series from Japan,” says Ken Sasaki, Senior Vice President & General Manager of VIZ Media. “We are excited for fans to explore the fantastic world of NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, and share their thoughts and start discussions through the social network features of VIZAnime.com!”

VIZAnime.com is a free-to-use web destination that is now the permanent home to some of the company’s best-loved animated series. Over 1,100 episodes are currently available, and new content is added on a weekly basis. Series currently featured on VIZAnime.com include BLEACH, BUSO RENKIN, DEATH NOTE, HONEY AND CLOVER, HIKARU NO GO, INUYASHA, INUYASHA: THE FINAL ACT, KEKKAISHI, NANA, NARUTO, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, ONE PIECE and THE PRINCE OF TENNIS.

To view subtitled NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN animated episodes (rated ‘T’ for Teens) and other VIZ Media animated titles, please visit VIZAnime.com.

PR: Viz Media to Stream New Bleach Episodes

2010-06-22T15:05:00.003-05:00

PRESS RELEASE

LATEST EPISODES AIRED IN JAPAN OF POPULAR BLEACH ANIME SERIES TO START STREAMING ON VIZANIME.COM

Fans Are Invited To View New Episodes On VIZAnime.com

Beginning Today For FREE!

San Francisco, CA, June 22, 2010– VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, continues to generate tremendous momentum for its popular BLEACH series with the announcement that English-subtitled episodes from the most current story arc will begin streaming for free in the U.S. via the company’s premier website for anime, VIZAnime.com. Starting today with Episode 275, VIZAnime.com will stream a new BLEACH episode one week after it has aired in Japan.

BLEACH is one of the most popular Japanese anime and manga properties in the world and this near simulcast schedule is part of VIZ Anime’s ongoing strategy to bring hit animated properties to a national audience via the web.

BLEACH is a popular manga and animated series (both rated ‘T’ for Teens), distributed domestically by VIZ Media, that follows the adventures of Ichigo, a 15-year old student with the ability to see ghosts. When his family is attacked by a Hollow — a malevolent lost soul – Ichigo encounters Rukia, a Soul Reaper, and inadvertently absorbs her powers. Now, he’s dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping tortured souls find peace. Episode 275, from the newest story arc in Japan, marks the start of a thrilling storyline and guarantees a series of face-offs that are sure to excite old and new BLEACH fans!

VIZAnime.com is the official online home to some of VIZ Media’s best-loved animated series, and a burgeoning social network for fans to connect and form an interactive community. Over 1,000 episodes are currently available, and new content is added on a weekly basis.

“BLEACH remains one of the most successful and popular anime series in North America, and VIZ Media continues to break down time and distance barriers by making new episodes available within days of their original airing in Japan,” says Ken Sasaki, Sr. Vice President & General Manager, VIZ Media. “VIZAnime.com is the ultimate destination for the many popular VIZ Media animated titles, and currently contains an extensive catalog of hundreds of episodes from popular shows like BLEACH, INUYASHA, NARUTO, THE PRINCE OF TENNIS and more, all offered with accurate, high-quality streaming video that is completely free for viewers!”

BLEACH is a tremendously successful multimedia property internationally. The manga has been licensed in numerous countries around the world and has sold over 2 million copies in the US. In North America, the manga has been a sales hit and the popular animated series is viewed weekly by millions. This success also includes an array of related video games, apparel, action figures and other merchandise.

BLEACH animation can be viewed on Adult Swim and through a variety of other web-based video download and streaming outlets that have partnered with VIZ Media, including iTunes®, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Amazon, and HULU. For more information on BLEACH, please visit bleach.viz.com. To view subtitled BLEACH animated episodes, please visit VIZAnime.com.

E3 2010: Sony

2010-06-15T15:53:00.002-05:00

Here's Sony. Sorry for the lack of excitement here. I'm not a Sony fan this time around, and honestly there were too many long, boring, repetitive montages in there. They lost my interest several times. Still, I took decent notes, so here's Sony's conference:

Welcome to the Sony Press Conference. It’s 1:55 PM CT. So not even remotely interested. Disclaimer: I don’t own a PSP or a PS3. Really thought about skipping this one, but eh, might as well. Last Guardian, Persona, and Kingdom Hearts will wake me up.

Montage playing with lots of various game footage. And a little jibe at Kinect from Kevin Butler.

Here is Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony America. Making a joke about Kevin Butler co-hosting with him. Kevin Butler is the guy in all their commercials, by the way. Sony annoys me, but he’s hilarious and those commercials are great. Transition from more to a game company into an entertainment company Jack says. Something for everyone in you family; the only console he say that has that (WTF? Glad to see Sony’s arrogance hasn’t gone anywhere). He’s talking about the PS3 as an entertainment center with movies, music, BR, games, etc.

Pres and CEO of SCE, Kazuo Hirai. Talking about 3D. Weee. Well, it’s Sony; they’re pimping their new 3D TVs right now, so obviously the PS3 would go there too. Content defining 3D. Because I totally want to shell out for a freakin’ 3D television, too. No thanks. He’s calling out some 3D PSN titles, 20 titles by March 2011 will be in 3D.

Killzone 3 in 3D, here is Hermen from Gorilla Games (I think he said). Group up built for 3D play. The scene they’re showcasing takes place in the arctic. And everyone puts on the glasses, those black sunglass looking ones like you get in theaters. Unfortunately this effect does not carry over into the home broadcasts. Anyway, it’s Killzone. There’s shooting and stuff. And you’ve got some kind of jet pack…that shoots flames out in front of your face. That’s nice. February. Also compatible with PSMove.

Kaz is back. “The content drives the consumer interest.” He’s talking about content created for 3D and not just adapted. PS3 only platform with native 3D gaming. Motor Storm Apocalypse, Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5, and one I missed (Sly?). Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, Shaun White Skateboarding, Tron Evolution, NBA 2K11, all in 3D (and one I missed again…it’s too fast). MLB, Eyepet…games that use 3D and Move.

“It’s a future that Sony will lead” – the future of entertainment. Another 3D video. Fifa, golf, football…. Montage time I guess. Oh this was definitely created to show off the 3D. Eyepet (this thing is so ugly), Motor Storm, MLB The Show, The Fight, Killzone 3, tumble, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, GT5, The Sly Collection…all just the stuff he just mentioned.

Jack is back. Talking about life cycles. “How many ways you can be relevant in people’s lives” not just how long. Talking about the lasting effect of the PS2. Streaming Netflix, internet browsing, music, with the PS3. And PlayStation Move. “Realism.”

Peter Dille to talk about PS Move. A “future-proof” product. Casual fans and core gamers will enjoy it. He’s talking about the specs of the controller. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a little wand with a colored ball on top that is tracked by a camera. Video of developers talking about Move. It basically does what Kinect does, but with controllers. Kevin Butler poking fun again, saying that buttons are important. I can definitely see how Kinect is not really great for complex games like FPS games, whereas the Move can handle that. So that’s a really good point for them to make.

Jack says they are not here today to show things we’ve already seen, but here for brand new reveals. Sorcery with Christian Busic. You are a sorcerer’s apprentice going on magic adventures. A little magician is moving his wand around with Christian’s arm that is holding the Move wand. He’s shooting off bolts at monsters by flicking the controller in his hand. It’s a little jerky, like a Wii game. Graphics don’t exactly say “this can only be on the PS3” either. Oh that’s neat. The little ball on top of the Move wand changes colors depending on what spell he is using. He can draw walls of fire, cast AOE spells, control trajectory, etc. Spring 2011.

Sports games. EA Sports’ Andrew Wilson to talk about Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. Tiger Woods works amazingly well on the Wii with Motion Plus, by the way. But it does track your positioning more, instead of just where the controller points by standard (he made a point to say it tracks 1:1 movement instead of just using the same set animations). Boy, he shot two sand traps. Move functionality for the game will be delivered via downloaded update on PSN when the controller comes out.

One more title, a familiar franchise. It’s Heroes on the Move. A collection of some of Sony’s flagship characters all in one game. Jak, Sly, Ratchet, Daxter, Clank…I missed one. There’s 6. Looks like an action game in line with their individual games.

CocaCola supports active and positive living? Haha…. Some sort of partnership with CC Jack is talking about here, winning Sony prizes and stuff. OH IT’S THE BUTLER.

Kevin Butler is here to joke around. *heart*

Launch date for Move – Europe Sep 15, NA Sep 19, Japan Oct 21. $50 if you already own the PS3 and the Eye. $29.99 for what is basically the ‘chuk. And a $99 bundle with wand and camera plus a game. $399 for the PS3, camera and wand plus a game (Sports Champions). Ruse, Killzone 3, Singstar Dance, Echochrome 3, Eyepet… Toy Story 3, Heavy Rain, Resident Evil 5 will all have updates to enable Move. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Brunswick Pro Bowling, The Fight Lights Out, Sports Champions, Start the Party, Singstar Dance, Eyepet (still ugly), Heroes on the Move, Superstars TV, Socom 4, Time Crisis, The Shoot, RE5, Aragorn’s Quest, Tron, Sorcery, all Move capable this fall.

Jack again. …. I think the guy I kept saying was Jack a couple times up there was NOT Jack. Oops. But this is (sorry for my confusion, they look a little similar). He’s talking about the PSP. It allows any serious gamer to “step up your game.” Some little punk kid named Marcus is the new PSP spokesperson.

Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker. Invizimals with a PSP camera peripheral. God of War Chains of Olympus. God of War Ghost of Sparta is being shown now. And that didn’t really say anything about what the game is about.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Ace Combat, The Third Birthday, UFC, new PSP games coming out this fall. Montage of new titles coming out: MGS: PW, Mod Nation Racers, Ace Combat Joint Assault, Gravity Crash, Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi, Hot Shots Tennis, Madden 11, Birth by Sleep, Invizimals, Patapon 3, Fat Princess, Tetris, Eyepet, Piyotama, The 3rd Birthday, P3P, Ys, Valkyria II, God of War.

Jack is talking about the PSN now. 50 million registered users. Quick blurbs about various PSN features, like Home. They recreated their E3 booth in Home. Little Big Planet, to talk about user content, etc. And Mod Nation Racers.

Alex Evans from Media Molecule for LBP2. I still don’t really get this game, but Sackboy is adorable. You can create little mini games with multi-player. Various new creation and game features. You can make shooters, driving games, various things.

Jack just came out and said that the PSN will be free, but there is a service packaged called PSPlus. It gives you expanded options – exclusive features and content for gamers. Value…. OK, what KIND. OK, early demos, select betas, discounts, automatic downloads. Available later this month, a full year is about 50 bucks. 3 months for $17.99. Oh, he just said “this extra content you will own for the duration of your subscription” so…what. It goes away and you can’t access it anymore if you stop? That kind of sucks.

EA support. John Schappert from EA. Two new titles with exclusive PS3 content – Medal of Honor. Greg Goodrich to show new content (as in, different from EA’s content yesterday). Yesterday they showed muti-player play, today is a new character named Deuce, AFO Wolfpack. In June they’re going to show Tier 1 operators to share their stories that influenced the game. New multi map reveal – Dingaw Valley? Missed the spelling. LE version for PS3 on Oct 12. Remastered HD version of Frontline will be included.

Dead Space 2 time. Saw this yesterday during the EA conf too. Steve Papoutsis is back to show us the continuation from the cliff hanger yesterday, where the character was jumped by a huge boss. Now they’re going to show what happened after. It is big and it is nasty. Tight fight in a narrow hallway, lots of dangling by the ankles. Pretty intense. LE for PS3, Dead Space 2 and DS Extraction in one, with Move support.

Jack is back and is interrupted by GLADOS. Portal 2 with Gabe Newell from Valve. Steam will be partnering up with this. And Portal 2 trailer. Guess who is Still Alive? It’s footage of GLADOS rebuilding the entire lab. “I think we can put our differences behind us, for science. You monster.” *glee*

Jack is back talking about Square Enix’s MMO, FFXIV. Gorgeous trailer. But if I’m gonna shell out for an MMO, sorry, it’s gonna be Old Republic.

2K Games. Mafia II, exclusive content on PS3, free bonuses for purchasing the game. Ubisoft – Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Exclusive missions only for PS3….dammit. Multi-player beta exclusive for PS3 too. Trailer was supposed to show some multiplayer stuff but uh, that didn’t explain or show how it’s supposed to work.

Jack is naming off some games they weren’t able to demo, like DCU, Shaun White, and some others they already mentioned but didn’t really showcase. So…montage: Socom 4, Killzone 3, Medal of Honor, DS2, Mafia II, Madden 11, NBA2K11, Tiger Woods, Sports Champions, The Fight, NCAA 11, Eyepet (still ugly), Start the Party, LBP2, The Shoot, echochrome II, Heroes on the Move, GT5, Mon Nation Racers, Motor Storm, True Crime, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Shooter 2, Mortal Kombat, Castlevania, Dead Nation, Sorcery, DCU, Sly, Tron, FFXIV, Lego Harry Potter in there and some Spider-Man. Gee, they could have shown off some more stuff if they weren’t repeating every damn thing 3 times.

Here’s another title. GT5. Ug, it just goes on and on and on….. It’s another fucking driving game. I don’t play them, so I can’t tell you how it’s different from Forza or any of the others that have been shown this week. They all look the same to me. Showing off some cars and locations like Japan. November. It’s 3D too.

Infamous 2. Looks OK. Seen better. Finally. One last surprise.

What is it. Everything went dark. It’s a car. Oh, it’s some live action commercial something or other. From Papa Johns. Not the game, just the commercial is presented by PJ’s. Still waiting to see what it is. Pan up on a character, it isssssss a crazy clown. Twisted Metal. Sony just rolled out a fucking truck on stage with a costumed guy hanging out. 2011. Demoing online team death match mode. 16 players, with 2 and 4 player split screen. Helicopter fights. New mode: Nuke. Fighting up skyscrapers, along freeways…. In Nuke you destroy these giant statues hanging from helicopters. You capture the faction leader, shoot off a huge missile, and guide it to the target.

Jack wrapping up, talking about innovation and content. Little surprising that there was nothing about Last Guardian in there anywhere. Portal 2 I guess was a big announcement for them, but I'll play that on the PC. And that’s that. No more conferences to blog. Tonight on G4 they’re doing a half hour look at the Old Republic MMO though; you should watch.

E3 2010: Nintendo

2010-06-15T12:20:00.003-05:00

Um, wow. Nintendo just made up for years of crappy presentations. Old school is back in awesome ways. Here are my notes on Nintendo's conference:

Good morning everyone! It’s time for Nintendo! Everyone is expecting a new Zelda reveal, though I’m not sure if this is a confirmed offering or not. Expect plenty casual bull shit. Probably a look at Metroid from Team Ninja. And the 3DS. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

LOL the iPad is the “enemy of the future.” That’s from uh…I think they said Miyamoto said that. Hilarious. Oh hey guess what. Wii Sports Resort sold almost 6 million copies because it was packaged in with the new remote. They really shouldn’t even count that one when they’re talking about top game sales numbers.

11 am CT, time for Nintendo. All blogs are coming to you live from my living room. ^_^

Here’s Reggie (he’s the pres of Nintendo America). “That buzz begins with technology.” Sounds like they’re starting off with the 3DS. “Technology is a tool…” What matters is the experience, and the best comes with “technology and game design are perfectly matched.” “We intend to show you how Nintendo once again is raising the bar….”

ZELDA. They’re starting with Zelda? Wow. Grown up Zelda, but not as gritty as Twilight Princess. It’s called Skyward Sword. Shortest trailer ever. Oh, here’s Miyamoto to talk about the game. But he’s not actually on stage. It’s taped. Looks like you get to use the Wiimote as the sword, and the ‘chuk as the shield, which is cool. Mr. Bill is going to demo the game on stage. Oh, there he is! Miyamoto is live on stage now. Because apparently Bill sucks at playing Zelda, so Miyamoto is gonna explain himself with Bill to translate. That’s really cool that you can use the controllers that way, but I don’t think I want to play a whole Zelda game like that…. If you swing up and down, the sword makes a downward strike, ditto on side-to-side. The way you swing your arm/sword makes a huge difference. I bet it’s a motion-plus only game; Miyamoto’s got one attached. There’s an item wheel now that pops up a quick item select menu. Targeting works a bit differently with the sling shot; basically you don’t aim at the TV anymore, just move the remote around. They’re having some wireless interference in there….. You use your controls like an actual bow and arrow to shoot the bow, pulling back on the ‘chuk like you would the string. There’s a whip now too; he’s cycling through the various new items. Looks good, but no clues to the story. Won’t be out until 2011.

Reggie is back. Talking about universal appeal. Wide World of Sports – Ultra realism or over-the-top fun. Madden, Pro Evo Soccer, MLB 2K, NBA Jam. Setting up a new Mario game. Haha, oh my gosh, seriously? Mario volleyball. Hockey. Dodgeball. Basketball. Mario Sports Mix. 2011. Reggie says you can’t always listen to the experts, who last year said Wii momentum was starting to wane, and that casual Wii owners don’t buy games. He’s telling them they’re wrong. Wii owners play their systems more often than others. Not at my house. The popularity of bridge games like Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros Wii keeps it afloat. Tons of Miis created.

Wii Party. Party games for your Miis. Horse racing, board games, 70 different mini-games. Holiday season.

He’s talking about Just Dance now. From Ubisoft. Just Dance 2 with 40+ tracks. Dancing duets, dance crew face-offs. Fall 2010 Wii exclusive.

Reggie’s saying “a lot of you got jazzed in a different way” last year for Golden Sun. Golden Sun Dark Dawn it’s called. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Footage. It’s 3D now. Uh-oh, something has gone wrong in the world of Golden Sun! Fabulous. This holiday! Merry Christmas to meeeeeee.

“Golden” has an entirely different meaning to other gamers. Reggie’s doing good with the segues here. It’s a Goldeneye game. Split screen and multiplayer (at least 4 player). With game modes like paintball. Exclusive for the Wii from Activision this holiday.

A new type of hero whose reach has spanned 8 decades. Ooooh, it’s time for Epic Mickey. My stomach is telling me it’s also time for lunch. Here are Warren Spector and Adam Creighton for Epic Mickey. They are showing off an area called Ventureland where you talk to characters about quests. Smee, Swiss Family Robinson. Old stuff should be prevalent. Mickey uses paint and paint thinner to erase objects and characters, or restore them. How you change the world makes a difference. Do you solve problems by removing obstacles or by creating. It looks good. Action Zones are for missions. Mickey jumps into a movie screen to enter Travel Zone. Side scrolling areas that take you from one place to another. Balance heritage and innovation. Awesome awesome.

Reggie is talking about keeping popular franchises fresh. 1992 Iwata worked with Sakurai (Smash Bros, Kirby). Kirby! Wii Kirby. Should Kirby stick to his roots or go to something new, Reggie asks. Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Oh that is CUTE. It’s Kirby’s world made out of stitching, buttons, yarn, needle point. CUUUUTE. Oh that is fucking adorable. Kirby is a giant yarn robot! That is really, really cool looking. The most obvious difference is not the way it looks but the way it works, Reggie says. Comes out this fall.

He’s talking about Dragon Quest IX now. Over 300 monsters, over 900 items. Online multi-player. Tag-mode seeks out other players even when your DS is closed to add new characters and things. On the DS in 26 days in America (July 11).

Last day in August, players on Wii get Metroid Other M. Oh that is pretty sweet looking. Nintendo is really bringing it this year. Platforming, FPS segments for Samus.

Retro Studios in Texas is producing…Donkey Kong. Classic DK theme playing. DK has never looked this good. Side scroller with DK and Diddy. Donkey Kong Country Returns (thought it had some familiar elements). This holiday on Wii.

Geez, what else does Reggie have? Talking about all these titles have brought your game memory into the past. Now we’re going into the future. Guess it’s 3DS time. Basically he’s saying that it’s too expensive to get the 3D on the big screens, and there’s really no content for it yet. And he’s making fun of the glasses. Nintendo thinks there’s a better way, with portable 3D, ample game content on first day, and NO GLASSES. Montage rolling with the history of 3D, “nothing between you and the experience.” Haha, that was a little melodramatic. A tiny blue 3DS rose from the stage on a platform with lots of smoke.

Here is Iwata to discuss it. 2 screens, 3.5 inch on the upper screen. Nintendo produced the first 3D video game 15 years ago. Mass market product. It has a 3D slider on the side to maximize the effect or remove it all together. Touch panel on bottom. Graphic improvements. Slide Pad for analog movement. Motion sensor/gyro sensor. Boy they’re going all out with this. Compatible with DSi. 3DS has 2 cameras on the outside so you can take 3D photos. It can play 3D movies too, but he’s not going into that much; but he says you can watch trailers for several movies at their booth. It’s incredibly impressive, but I’m not remotely interested.

“Gamers care most about games” Iwata says. Project Sora (announced in 2009). It was established to create a game specifically for the 3DS. Kid Icarus. Uprising. It has voices. It looks like it could be a console title with those graphics. “Coming Soon” is all it says. OK, now I’m kind of interested.

Iwata is talking about navigating a 3D world. And communicating with other systems and hot spots. Ooooh….. The 3Ds lets you communicate regardless of what software you’re playing. It does it all on its own. And it’s free. He’s wrapping up by talking about how they proved themselves with their new technology. And announcing some other various things. Nintendogs+Cats in 3D. Atlus, Konami, Bandai, Activision, EA, Harmonix, WB, Sega, all developing 3D games. Including Kingdom Hearts, Madden NFL, DJ Hero, Saints Row, Assassin’s Creed, Ridge Racer, Metal Gear Solid, Professor Layton…. Shit. Guess I will have to get one of those.

Montage of developers reacting to the 3D news. They seem impressed and excited. Precision, exploration, online, cameras.

Reggie is back to wrap up. That was like 2-3 casual games, and a shit ton of core games. Nintendo just blew Microsoft out of the water. Cute commercial – Iwata and Miyamoto are getting sucked into the 3DS, literally. Stuff flies out of the system. Reggie is watching Iwata and Miyamoto being chased by Bowser. Cheesy, but cute. Reggie got fire spewed on him and appeared back onstage with a torn up coat. They’re trying to express what the 3DS can do. They just brought a bunch of 3DS…es in to demo. Like tons of them. They’re going to walk out to the people in the theater to let everyone try it out. And Wii kiosks came out of the floor to demo the new Zelda. Go Nintendo.

And that’s a wrap. Sony is later. Time for lunch.

E3 2010: Ubisoft

2010-06-14T20:33:00.002-05:00

Ubisoft now. Started at 7, ended at 8:30. Time for dinner now. Gotta make sure I get up in the morning for Nintendo and Sony. They're starting early. So here's Ubi's conference:

It’s time for Ubisoft. Most recent news: The new slimmer Xbox was announced to be the same price as the Elite bundle out now ($299)…except the Elite drops by $50 tomorrow morning. So that promise was only true for less than 24 hours. By the way, as much as I rather wish I could actually attend E3, I’m kind of glad I can’t, because I don’t think I could handle it. It’s tiring enough keeping up from home. I’d probably collapse from exhaustion. Or overdose on caffeine, which I don’t drink.

Reading some manga in between conferences while I rest my eyes. Working on Afterschool Charisma right now, a really cool new title from Viz Media. By the way, Olivia is conspicuously missing from the G4 coverage. Everyone else seems to be there. Not that I’m complaining (I’m so not). Just taking notice. Morgan is looking very smart in her skirt/suit thing.

7 pm CT, welcome to Ubisoft. Starting off with Kinect right away. It’s a guy waving his hands around and directing these flashes of color on the screen. It’s some kind of little shooting game on an acid trip. It’s neat. I’ll never play it, but it looks pretty cool. Reminds me of the Gummi Ship battles in Kingdom Hearts 2. Lots of shapes, bright colors, upbeat music. …. And G4 screwed up their feed. Yay. Jumping over to GameTrailers. Child of Eden by Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

Joel McHale again. Uggggggggg. Why does this guy keep hosting shit? FYI, he’s the guy from The Soup on E! He does not work for Ubisoft. He is not funny.

He’s gone (yay( and now there’s a fancy trailer for an Assassin’s Creed game. Brotherhood. Nice looking and totally useless trailer. 1503 Rome (oh there’s more!). This is still Ezio…I thought this was a handheld? The graphics are incredible…. His enemies are dropping like flies as Ezio’s team takes everyone out. And big battle between assassins and soldiers in the street. November. Vincent and Patrick from Ubi here to talk about it. Ezio is a leader now…oh and still a lady’s man apparently. Yup. He’s in bed with his chick. And a body falls through his roof. So it takes place after AC2 and his home is being attacked by the Templars. Ezio runs through his villa as cannon balls fall around him. Advanced horse riding and combat, they’re showing some of it off. He’s playing this on the PS3. Ezio’s shooting his own cannon off at the enemy. Some neat, new stuff. AI is more aggressive now. Threw an axe at some huge armored guy. BORGIA! That’s his enemy. Sweet. The Borgia’s are super interesting. Wowzers. Except, uh, spoiler there at the end. I’m still a little confused about what this game is supposed to be. I had thought it was some in betweener handheld or arcade game or something, but it looks like a full title.

Joel again to announce a “20th century urban jungle” title. Oh, some skateboarding game. Are they still making these? Shaun White Skateboarding. Shaun is there to talk about stuff. Skateboard against The Man! Oh, now I know why I was confused about the new AC game. I was confusing it with Bloodlines, which IS a handheld title. Though that doesn’t leave me any less confused on what the game supposed to be. Will likely pick it up though; I really liked Ezio, much more than Altair.

Oh…Shaun White is in 3D too. Joy of joys.

Joel is talking about technology and video games. He is interrupted by music and some kind of laser tag-ish game demo. Ubisoft is making toys now? Battle Tag it’s called. “Something lots of gamers have been waiting for.” We have? The developer guy is basically saying it’s a real life FPS game. It’s got a chest piece with a sensor, big plastic guns, and ammo packs. So yeah, it’s just fancy laser tag that you can connect to your computer or console or whatever. You can set up targets too. 2 guns, 2 harnesses, 4 tags (the target things) come in each pack. That’s nice.

Joel is now making bad jokes and announcing Tommy Francois for Innergy. It’s a game to reduce stress. …. Isn’t that what they all do? It’s got a sensor, like the Wii vitality sensor but it’s Ubi’s thing. A little bubble goes up and down a rainbow telling you when to breathe in and out. Bright rainbow colors are not relaxing, Ubisoft. It’s made to plug into any computer. Or you could just do yoga breathing exercises for free.

Video from developers to talk about…Kinect I assume. Revolving the game world around you. Ah, some of these guys have hilarious accents. Using your mind and body to play. Now 2 new Kinect titles. This one looks like a sports game. Snow skiing, soccer, football. Motion Sports. Live demo of Your Shape (which was shown at the MS conference). It’s the same two people from the MS demo. It looks like it may be the exact same demo…Felicia’s even using the same dialog from earlier. They are talking a bit more about the online features though. But it’s all the same demo from earlier. I would probably get something like Your Shape; it’s nifty.

Joel is announcing the new Rabbids game now. “Now they will go…where no Rabbid has gone before.” Back in time apparently. Give a caveman fire, break the nose off the Sphinx, keep Excalibur from being pulled from the stone… It’s called Raving Rabbids Travel in Time. November on the Wii.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier. New weapons, new tech like optical camouflage. “The Soldier of the Future is an F-16 on Legs.” The producer and game designer are on to talk about it. See tomorrow’s soldier. Demo now, making good use of the optical camo. Lots of close quarter combat, perfect for the new camo feature. Quick and clean assassinations. There’s a voice over giving commands to you (“Take out the guy on the left while so-and-so gets the guy on the right.”). Wraps up with a big shoot out. You can play the campaign with 4-player co-op and…3D. Did he really just say this one is in 3D too? This has got to stop.

Joel announces a driving game now. Driver: San Francisco. Big car chase on a crowded bridge, plenty of carnage. Good looking game. Mostly rendered stuff there though. Martin Edmondson the creator is there to talk. Tanner vs. Jericho. Martin keeps talking about how they’re going back to their roots with this game.

CEO of Ubi, Yves Guillemot. First is Dust, a game for digital distribution. By Eric Chahi. Some old civilization, very Atlantean. Spring 2011. I guess it’s some kind of strategy game. Next is a presentation about creating art…leading into a new Rayman game. Rayman Origins. Only 5 people have been working on it apparently. The third project is a platform. He’s talking about UPlay from last year, but they have a new one, ManiaPlanet. Video about user-powered gaming and Track Mania, which has user generated content. User-Powered PC Gaming Zone. Shootmania and Questmania coming next year.

Now Yves is talking about a new product, learning from the experts. It is a…Michael Jackson game? It’s another dance game using Kinect I think. I dunno, there’s just some guys dancing around onstage with Beat It playing, but nothing happening on screen. Still dancing. Be nice to see the actual game. They did the whole dang song. ……….. So uh. That’s the end of the conference. What the hell was that for?

Well, they kind of ended with a thud there. The dance was cool, but they didn’t even say what it was for. Looked like maybe that dance game from the MS conference. Oh, no, wait, sorry, that was a Harmonix game. Quick check on Kotaku…they think it’s Just Dance. Oh well, at least they had that awesome Assassin’s Creed thing there at the beginning. That’s all for today. Sony and Nintendo tomorrow morning/afternoon. I forget which is first.

E3 2010: EA

2010-06-14T17:30:00.002-05:00

Time for EA! And don't forget to check out the Microsoft post from earlier today. EA was boring mostly. Lots of FPS games followed by lots of sport games followed by...super sexy new trailer for Old Republic. Just too bad there wasn't any game play footage. Anywhere, here is the EA conference:

EA in half an hour. Should see some Old Republic stuff, maybe new Mass Effect info. Probably a bunch of EA Sports crap, which I’m (not) sorry to say I don’t give a shit about, except that it helps pay for games I actually want to play. So please buy the slightly updated version of the exact same game next year so I can play more Dragon Age.

You know, I really don’t like G4, but Adam is hilarious to watch throughout the week. He gets really hyped up on caffeine and he’s totally wired. Oh, Morgan was upset by the representation of women in Microsoft’s conference. They’re repeating my own thoughts, (everyone seems to have these thoughts) about how the whole presentation just looked like the Wii.

Apparently they are passing 3D glasses around in there. *sigh* So it begins. I really hate this whole 3D fad and I wish the video game people wouldn’t try to push it too. G4 was talking about some of the best of E3 earlier, now they’re talking about the worst. It’s kind of funny. And sad…sad reminder of Nintendo’s massive casual game showing a couple years ago that made everyone want to cry.

They’re running a little late here, but should be starting soon…please…I don’t want to be up all night. :( Ah finally, 4:08 PM CT.

Trailer for…Need for Speed Hot Pursuit in November. Gorgeous cinematic, but the whole thing was just cinematics. Craig Sullivan Creative Director. Talking about Autolog, which shows you what your friends do in the game. Craig and Matt are gonna play together. One is a cop, the other the driver. View is from behind your car. It’s really pretty, but is otherwise kind of boring looking.

John Riccitiello from EA. He just compared EA to Sundance as compared to the Academy Awards. And introduced….

Dead Space 2. The producer is going to demo. Straight into a nasty boss fight. Looks good. Big mob battle here. Blood everywhere. Sorry…Dead Space is not a game I know much about. Monsters popping out everywhere, sufficiently creepy, good atmosphere. And he goes up an elevator, they show off some of the scenery, and a HUGE monster attacks. More at the Sony conference (so, to be cont.). January.

John is back. Talking about shooters. An updated out of commission franchise. DICE and EALA. Sean Decker for Medal of Honor. This one is going to the war in Afghanistan. Live, 24-player (wow) on stage. And they’re all out there. It’s called Team Assault. They’ve got multiple screens up on the big screen so you can watch several of them playing. And then the stupid camera keeps cutting down to their hands on the controllers, because, you know, THAT’S what I want to see. …. So it was just a jumbled battle. October. Beta in June. Then some fancy trailer action to showcase locals and combat. MoH uses real world locals and operations, by the way.

Katrina Senior Director at EA. Gun Club, a rewards club for gamers. Lol, Gun Club? Geez…. Weapon unlocks, early Beta and emo access, etc. So like, if you pre-order the new game, you get early Beta access.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam trailer. Uh…more like 5 second blurb that shows absolutely nothing. It’s an expansion pack.

Peter Moore for EA Sports. It’s time for a nap. MMA with Strikeforce. International mixed martial arts game. EA Sports Live Broadcast. Sounds like it will let you upload your fights in your game so other people can watch. It’s arranged online matches that air live, you can use your own face, and real commentators will comment on the fights. You can earn real world prizes. October.

Interactive Fitness. Andrew Wilson head of development for EA sports. Active 2. This is their fitness game that’s like a polished up version of Wii Fit. Multi-platform, online, and wireless, he says. First video shows the Wii, finally a use for the heart rate monitor it looks like. Track your progress online with your PC. November. They’re gonna demo with Kinect. Oh, the heart rate monitor is EA’s. Wii uses the remotes to bike ride, PS3 girl is lifting little weights, and the guy is boxing with Kinect. Serious lag on the PS3 demo. Still a tiny lag on the Kinect.

Peter is wrapping up with Madden of course. It’s Madden. Do I really need to pay attention? No? OK. Oh? Simpler, quicker, deeper. They’re saying they’re (finally?) evolving the game. Streamlining everything and making it much quicker. Oh, look, it’s Joe Montana.

Zzzzz…Huh? Rod Humble talking about free will and fate…Sims 3. He’s comparing it to Greek gods. Mentions the newest expansion, Ambitions, which put in more jobs. It’s just static pictures of stuff he’s done in the game. Like a slide show of Sim life. It’s kind of dull actually. Need some Old Republic to wake me back up. Unpredictability of the system, Sims with free will. Neuroscience…. It’s like I’m in a high school biology class. Or Psych 101 may be more appropriate. Sims 3 to consoles. Talking about putting more of the Sims world onto the consoles than before. In the past they’ve been pretty linear and constricted for a Sims game.

John is back talking about EA Partners. 2 brand new partners – Ted Price from Insomniac and the Respawn guys. Also mentions Epic. 2 games to announce, one is an FPS – Crysis 2. It’s going to the consoles now, if you hadn’t heard., so people might actually be able to play it now. Sandbox play experience. Most intelligent enemies in any shooter. I think he said it takes place in New York? Full freedom of experience. Gameplay now. Big battle in um…Central Station I think he said. Very tight graphics, very detailed. Heat vision is cool. Lots of explosions and huge enemies. Entire fucking skyscraper just got blown to bits and tumbled down. Pretty cool. Now 3D glasses. Oh man, it would be these fucking guys to do this. 3D on all platforms, but you can play it without too. They’re showing a 3D trailer, which I’m obviously not able to see the effects of. I don’t know that a 3D trailer will be offered up at some point or not.

Epic Games. Cliff is back (from MS) with Adrian from People Can Fly and Tanya from Epic. Bulletstorm. It’s an “over the top” FPS, Cliff’s words. February 2011. It’s uh…pretty over the top all right. Kicking enemies into generators where they get electrocuted, stuff like that. Lots of crazy looking stuff. Looks like time slows down a bit when you shoot enemies.

FINALLY. Fucking Star Wars. I’m awake now. Mary Bihr and Grez from Lucas Arts. Old Republic time. Every player gets a starship. Gonna talk about PVP, and show a new trailer. And here it goes, “Hope.” Oh wow. That was sexy. Go watch it. Right now. I’ll wait.

And they ended with a bang.

Ubisoft is next.

E3 2010: Microsoft

2010-06-14T14:01:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again. Time for E3, 2010! I plan on live blogging the conferences like I've been doing for a few years now. This early afternoon was Microsoft's Press Conference. Spitting this up quick here, because Ubi and EA are in an hour, and I'd like to rest my eyes a bit. That's supposed to go for like 6 hours or something (probably a break in between). LOTS of stuff about their motion control system. So, here you go! I watched the conference live on Spike TV and wrote my thoughts as it went along:

Listening to a pre-show thing. Keep hearing “premier of another Xbox LIVE Arcade game trailer” way too often.

Big news, of course, is that Natal is now Kinect. …. Should have kept the project name. It’s smaller than the prototypes. Lots of price speculation. Too much on the high end.

Ok, here we go! 12:30 pm CT. Welcome to the 2010 Xbox 360 Global Media Briefing.

Montage time. Explosions. Nice looking war game. Call of Duty Black Ops. November. Mark Lamia from Treyarch to talk about the game. I’ve never played one so I can’t comment on improvements. But the graphics are tight. All that’s on the screen are the crosshairs and a really pale ammo indicator in the bottom corner. Helicopter combat now; big explosions. I’m gonna finish my lunch here…. It looks great, so yeah….

Don Mattrick. He’s talking about the agreement with Activision. Xbox gets map packs and expansions first for Call of Duty, through 2012. Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty, big games on Xbox. Now he’s talking about Netflix, FB, etc. And announcing Project Natal’s new name, Kinect. Showing, not telling.

Hideo Kojima in the house. Aw, he’s so adorable. Talking about Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Talking about something new and unique for Kinect, I think? Or maybe he just means a new alliance with Xbox. Shigenobu Matsuyama now. Zan-Datsu. “Cut-Take” translated. This younger guy is the game’s producer. And here’s a trailer. Nice and shiny. And here comes Raiden to kick some ass. Cuts the head off this robot and rips out its spinal cord. “Cut at will.” “Cut what you will.” HAHA he’s slicing up watermelon now. Nice accuracy. No date on that.

Phil Spencer, Corporate VP. Experiences that cannot be found anywhere else. Blockbuster games, online multiplayer, storytelling…and characters. Halo Reach, Fable 3, Crackdown 2…. Everything showing today is available only on Xbox 360. And here comes….. Cliff Bleszinski for Gears of War.

4 player story based co-op on display here. I hated Gears of War, just a disclaimer here. Graphics look amazing though. Oooh there’s a girl in this one. Looks like pretty standard Gears stuff. Limbs being torn/blown off, blood everywhere. I don’t know how it will play; they’re only showing one full screen here for Player1. Big nasty boss fight. Characters call out to each other when they’re out of ammo or something, that’s neat. He mentions a new mode called “Beast” but doesn’t describe it here.

Peter Molyneux. Fable 3 (duh). Here to raise up our hopes, so they can be dashed when the game comes out. I love these games, but Pete hypes like crazy; he gets super excited about what he’s making, but half of it never makes it in. In F3 you are a ruler. Good looking trailer here. This looks to be set in the…17 or 18th century. No release date but…I think it comes out in October.

Phil is back. Exclusive title…with a new partener. Activision I guess. What is this? Trailer of some huge gladiator looking guy on a field of battle. Oops, Crytek. Codename Kingdoms. Have not heard of this, and the trailer didn’t really show much.

Phil again…one game changed everything. Must be talking about Halo. Halo Reach. Bungie Creative Director Marcus Lehto. Showing off the new campaign. And of course it looks amazing. I want to say Reach is…a prequel? I don’t remember. Anyway, it looks like a freakin’ Halo game. Not noticing any obvious changes. Girls in this one too! And awesome music. Oooooo…nice melee move. B oy that is massive. Spartan just hopped on a rocket/space shuttle. …… It’s a battle in space. Wowzers. Got some goose bumps. September.

Marc Whitten, VP of LIVE. Ug his mic sucks. He’s just rambling about LIVE stats. Kinect. Oh, he’s going to talk about using Kinect with the dashboard. Controller free play. Demonstration. Ron, one of the engineers. He’s showing how easy it is to sign into LIVE with a wave of the hand (it has facial recognition). He’s showing off menu navigation. !!!!! You can select with your voice, too. He said “Zune” and it selected. Now he’s navigating through a film with his hands. Paused the movie with his voice. “Xbox pause, Xbox Play,” and it does. “Xbox, play music” and it does. That is COOL.

Marc again. FB, Netflix, Last FM, etc, all can be used with Kinect. Coming to every country with the Xbox. Xbox LIVE coming to Windows Phone7. ….. You can now use Kinect to communicate via video, like a web cam, and via the Kinect’s mic (so party chat with no headset). You can do this via LIVE or Windows Messenger. She’s demoing with a relative or something. You can watch a movie together this way. Um, wow. Ahaha, it’s cheesy and scripted. The other girl is moving and the Kinect is tracking her. “Xbox, End Chat,” and it goes away.

Marc again. Talking about a social living room. People are missing one important thing? ESPN apparently. I’m not missing that, I promise. On Demand and Live events through your Xbox. So…instead of just watching sports on your TV you can turn your Xbox on too. This is exclusive to the 360. 3,500 live and on demand events (these are Sports Center Guys doing a quick commercial thing, and now they’re on stage). *yawn* Lots in HD. This is probably exclusive to Gold users, like most things, though they haven’t said it outright yet. You an use Kinect with this too. Oh, wow… “Xbox, Replay” and it shows the last play. Trivia, polls…. It’s pretty interactive.

Back to Marc. Oop, there we go. He said “available to Gold users.” No additional cost.

Creative Director for Kinect, Kudo Tsunoda. Uniting people, etc. “Time for talk is over.” 6 launch games for this holiday. Cute little girl playing with a tiger. It responds to her voice and her movements. She jumps and the tiger jumps. ADORABLE. She hid behind something and the tiger is pressing up against the screen looking for her. Thought it was Viva Pinata at first, but this is a Rare game. She is jump roping with the tiger. OOOOOOH it’s CUTE. Kinectimals. Clearly a kiddie game, though.

Kinect Sports. Shin from Rare (Rare I guess is doing most of the Kinect development). He’s playing around in an arena. Where is the sports? They are…jumping hurdles??? Having some problems here. Running in place. Then they jump up to go over the hurdle. Nifty. But it’s like, Wii with more movement. It uses avatars, too. Montage of the sports you can play. Soccer, bowling, track and field, ping-pong, boxing, volleyball.

Kinect Joyride. Cart racing. Missed the girl’s name and studio. But she’s steering the car with just her hands. So far they’re just Wii games minus the controller. Nothing for the core here, but I guess they’re trying to hit the casual/family/kid market, which is fine. It’s not really a big market for them so far.

Kinect Adventures. I see a pattern here. Darren to demo. He is um, riding some kind of platform and leaning around to get coins, ducking under polls, things like that. Another guy comes onstage to play and the game automatically splits in two. It’s picking them up pretty well. The game took photos of them in the real space (you can post these to places like FB); that’s kinda neat. Another demo…some girls in an inner tube going down a river. I mean, it all looks cool, but it’s nothing I’m interested in. LOTS of active movement too; way more of a work out than the Wii games.

Other developers now. Ubisoft for Kinect. Looks like a workout game. Oh if I had a cute coach like that, I’d exercise more often…. It’s called Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. Felicia Williams from Ubi to talk about the game. Oh wow, she took off her sweater on stage and her image in the game did the same. It scans her body in and I guess…organizes the menus and things to her exact height/build. Celebrity trainer helped develop the game, and now he’s gonna talk about it. Martial Arts, yoga, gym activities. It remembers her preferences (fave routines) and tracks everything she is doing. It looks like there’s a teeny tiny lag on the screen. She’s doing tai chi as a cool down now. No remotes, to balance boards, just the Kinect camera.

Harmonix. Dance Central. Lead producer of the game is here, she’s dancing. I’m not sure if it’s teaching her, or just tracking her or what… I think it’s cycling through moves, and she’s performing them, like DDR. Alex Rigopulos, CEO. He’s talking about performing dances from original music videos of the songs they’re using. Another Harmonix guy, demonstrating a mode that teaches you the dance moves. Apparently this game is to teach nerdy white boys how to dance.

Phil is back. He’s been looking a little confused up there. November 4 is the launch for Kinect. More than 15 launch titles when it arrives. Exclusive arrangement with Lucas Arts…OMG. OMG OM GOMG OMGOIJSKHDGFHSD Star Wars Kinect. Lightsaber fighting, force power using. He’s deflecting blaster bolts, and the trailer cuts right before a duel with Vader. No live demo though.

Turn 10 Studios. Racing. Steering the car, checking mirrors, all with Kinect. Oh, it’s Forza. Finally some real games. Nifty stuff here, checking out the car inside and out with Kinect. 2011. Star Wars was 2011 too. So…just casual stuff for launch?

Don again. He’s wrapping up, I think. A brand new era for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE. Kickstarting the new era with….a slimmer, sleeker 360. 250 gig HDD, built in WiFi, smaller, quiet, for…the same price as the new 360s are now. 299. Ships in…TODAY. Unless you are in the audience at the theater…and you get it now for free. ….. Damn. That’s…wow that’s rad. Go Microsoft.

And it’s over. Nice, with less talk and more footage but…lacking a bit in some areas. EA and Ubi coming in like…an hour I think.

PR: Viz Media joins coalition against manga piracy

2010-06-08T12:47:00.002-05:00

From Viz Media (PR):

MULTI-NATIONAL MANGA ANTI-PIRACY COALITION FORMED

San Francisco, CA, June 8, 2010 – Today a coalition of Japanese and U.S. publishers announced a coordinated effort to combat a rampant and growing problem of internet piracy plaguing the manga industry. “Scanlation,” as this form of piracy has come to be known, refers to the unauthorized digital scanning and translation of manga material that is subsequently posted to the internet without the consent of copyright holders or their licensees. According to the coalition, the problem has reached a point where “scanlation aggregator” sites now host thousands of pirated titles, earning ad revenue and/or membership dues at creators’ expense while simultaneously undermining foreign licensing opportunities and unlawfully cannibalizing legitimate sales. Worse still, this pirated material is already making its way to smartphones and other wireless devices, like the iPhone and iPad, through apps that exist solely to link to and republish the content of scanlation sites.

Participants in the coalition include the 36 members of Japan’s Digital Comic Association, Square Enix, VIZ Media, TOKYOPOP, Vertical, Inc., the Tuttle-Mori Agency and Yen Press. Working together, the membership of the coalition will actively seek legal remedies to this intellectual property theft against those sites that fail to voluntarily cease their illegal appropriation of this material.

“It is unfortunate that this action has become necessary,” said a spokesperson for the group. “However, to protect the intellectual property rights of our creators and the overall health of our industry, we are left with no other alternative but to take aggressive action. It is our sincere hope that offending sites will take it upon themselves to immediately cease their activities. Where this is not the case, however, we will seek injunctive relief and statutory damages. We will also report offending sites to federal authorities, including the anti-piracy units of the Justice Department, local law enforcement agencies and FBI.”

The coalition stated that it has currently identified thirty sites targeted for action.

Participant members of the Digital Comic Association include: Akane Shinsha, Akita Shoten, ASCII Media Works, East Press, Ichijinsha, Enterbrain, Okura Shuppan, Ohzora Shuppan, Gakken, Kadokawa Shoten, Gentosha Comics, Kodansha, Jitsugyo No Nihonsha, Shueisha, Junet, Shogakukan, Shogakukan Shueisha Production, Shodensha, Shonen Gahosha, Shinshokan, Shinchosa, Take Shobo, Tatsumi Shuppan, Tokuma Shoten, Nihon Bungeisha, Hakusensha, Fujimi Shobo, Fusosha, Futabasha, France Shoin, Bunkasha, Houbunsha, Magazine House, Media Factory, Leed sha, Libre Shuppan

PR: Kekkaishi EP 1 Free DTO from Viz Media

2010-06-04T12:59:00.004-05:00

Some quick PR from Viz Media:

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES FREE KEKKAISHI DOWNLOAD EPISODE

Special Promotion To Celebrate the Domestic Broadcast Launch of the Shonen Sunday Animated Series

VIZ Media invites fans to explore the demon-battling action adventure of popular Shonen Sunday KEKKAISHI anime series with a FREE Download-to-Own (DTO) episode starting today through VIZ Media partners iTunes, Xbox Live's Zune Marketplace, PlayStation®Network and Amazon Video on Demand. KEKKAISHI Episode 1 will be available for free download through June 17^th to celebrate the recent domestic broadcast launch of KEKKAISHI on Adult Swim.

KEKKAISHI is based on the hit manga series by Yellow Tanabe (also published in North America by VIZ Media). A story of mystical forces powerful in the region known as Karasumori. For over 400 years, it has been the duty of a clan of “kekkaishi”—barrier masters—to guard this land and exterminate the supernatural creatures that are drawn to it night after night.

Yoshimori Sumimura is a junior high school student at Karasumori Academy, which is built upon the Karasumori grounds. By night, Yoshimori follows the tradition passed down through generations and fulfills his destiny as the twenty-second “kekkaishi” of the Sumimura clan. But by day, Yoshimori's got other demons to contend with, like an obsession with cake making and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori's pretty neighbor, childhood friend and rival, Tokine Yukimura, is also a “kekkaishi,” but their families are caught up in a feud over who is the true practitioner of the art. Protecting ordinary people from the ever-present danger of the Karasumori grounds, Yoshimori will continue to grow stronger as he battles the forces of evil again tonight!

For more information on the KEKKAISHI anime and manga series (both rated “T” for Teens), please visit www.ShonenSunday.com or www.viz.com.

Night Head Genesis

2010-04-21T14:13:00.003-05:00

What to say about this lame, boring junk? Night Head Genesis is a psychological thriller mystery thing. The 24-episode series is based on a 1992 drama series. The anime aired in 2006 and was picked up by 2008 by Media Blasters. It is only available in Japanese with English subtitles.

Naoto and Naoya are brothers with special powers. The older brother, Naoto, is a powerful psychokinetic. Naoya, six years younger, is a clairvoyant and telepath, with some form of healing ability as well. In the world they live in, most normal humans only use 30% of their brain capacity. The unused portion is called "Night Head," and a few rare and special people are able to use that extra 70%, like Naoto and Naoya. Unable to control the dangerous and short-tempered Naoto (who is fiercely protective of his younger brother), or to help Naoya (who can see horrifying images from a person's deep consciousness with the slightest contact with someone) function in the world around him, their parents allow them to be taken by a research center, where they are held without possibility of escape. Until, 15 years later, the old man who founded the research center dies, and the strange barrier that held them inside the compound falls, allowing them to escape. Back out in the world, they soon learn that they are part of an upcoming disaster which may destroy the entire world.

That sounds way more exciting than it is. The show is slow, confusing, and boring. And there's no real solid resolution regarding the upheaval, remaking, destroying of the world that is supposed to occur. There's a faction of mentally powerful people like themselves who are working to bring about a rebirth or something, and Naoto and Naoya end up opposing them. And then it kind of ends...with nothing really happening. Then there are a couple episodes at the end, that feel rather tacked on, describing some seemingly unrelated events about a year after the previously resolved events. They don't feel necessary at all.

I felt like they were trying too hard somehow. It seemed to want to emulate the feeling of shows like Witch Hunter Robin, but it really wasn't doing anything for me. As for the main characters.... Half of Naoto's lines are variations on "Keep it together, Naoya!" or "What's wrong, Naoya?" And Naoya himself barely has any lines at all, other than yelling "Nii-san!" over and over again. The plot is kind of nonsensical. The art is decent enough, and so is the music, though it's nothing outstanding.

Er, it's been a while since I watched this, so my synopsis might be a tad off (in regards to the motivations for the "bad guys"), but...well I gotta tell ya, it's not worth watching anyway. There's a manga adaptation too, from Del Rey, drawn by You Higuri (Gakuen Heaven, Ludwig II).

I'll try to write up Paranoia Agent next, which was much better than this..... Clannad After Story is the most recent series I've finished. I started up D.Gray-Man this morning but I'm not really into it, so I'm not sure I'll finish. Ug, sorry, this was kind of half-assed. I really didn't like it.

Upcoming April 2010

2010-04-04T16:38:00.002-05:00

I'm still here! And there are some things I'm working on. So far this year I have watched the following titles:
NieA Under 7
Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino
Gun x Sword
Bleach (ongoing)
Fushigi Yuugi
Night Head Genesis
Paranoia Agent

I also reviewed Berserk, but I guess I watched that last year. I'll be writing up reviews for Night Head Genesis and Paranoia Agent soon. I've been watching Kimi ni Todoke, which is adorable. And the next show on my Netflix is Clannad: After Story. So I'm off to a bit of a slow start, it seems. I've been reading a ton of manga though! And I got to do some other things, like review Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie. I also covered all three Makoto Shinkai films over Global Shinkai weekend (5cm, The Place Promised, Voices).

Otherwise.... I finally beat Nostalgia, for the Nintendo DS, which was entertaining, if a little lacking. Think a less sophisticated Skies of Arcadia. I also beat Mass Effect 2 recently, which was bloody brilliant. Assassin's Creed 2 I beat before that, which I also loved. Was playing Prince of Persia, but it glitched on me somewhere, and I'm unable to complete the game, so I put that aside. Finished Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth last night, which was...about as nonsensical as you can get. Good game, but some of those cases.... At a bit of a standstill at the moment regarding video games, so I'm hoping to pick up Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon for the Wii soon, and also Resonance of Fate later this year on the 360. Still working on Dragon Age: Origins for the PC.

Nothing much else to report on. Haven't seen any good dramas lately. I'm waiting on the Gokusen film to be translated, and the Nodame movies to come out. Still wondering what happened to that Skip Beat drama...wonder if it was canceled. Oh, I did have plans to watch the LA Yamato Nadeshiko...but forgot about it. Will have to look that up again. Very excited about the LA Beck Mongolian Chop Squad that is coming out, starring one of my favorite actors (the lovely Hiro Mizushima). Also, there's a new (animated) Trigun film! Can't wait to get my hands on that!

To all my readers, few though you were, if you're still there.... I hope you are enjoying yourselves! If you're looking for some manga to read, don't forget to check in on my review column at ComicAttack.net. I write my Bento Bako Weekly column every Monday, and I often have a Bento Bako Lite on Wednesdays. I'm working on some anime review for you and hope to have them up in a week or so, so I'll see you again then!

Fushigi Yuugi: The Mysterious Play

2010-02-27T00:05:00.001-06:00

Fushigi Yuugi is a 52-episode anime series based on the 18-volume manga by Yuu Watase. The anime was produced by Studio Pierrot in 1995, and was licensed and released by Geneon (Pioneer) on eight discs (about 6-7 episodes per disc), as Fushigi Yuugi: The Mysterious Play.

Miaka and Yui, two average middle school students, discover an old book in the local library called The Universe of the Four Gods. The two girls begin reading what they believe to be a fairy tale about ancient China, when they are suddenly sucked into its pages and dropped into the middle of nowhere, somewhere inside the book's world. After they are rescued from a group of men by a young man named Tamahome, Yui is transported back to their world, leaving Miaka behind. She follows the man to the capital of Konan, where she is taken to the palace and discovers that she is the priestess of the beast who guards the southern lands, Suzaku. The emperor of Konan, Hotohori, and Tamahome are members of the Suzaku Seven, celestial warriors who embody the seven southern stars and are charged with protecting the priestess. Hotohori then asks Miaka to travel the land to discover the other members of the Suzaku Seven, so that they can summon Suzaku and bring peace to Konan. Meanwhile, Yui reads about Miaka's adventures in the book as they occur, and when she attempts to bring an ill Miaka back, she is pulled back into the book, where she is rescued by a man named Nagako (a member of the Seiryuu Seven), taken back to the land of Kutou, and becomes the Priestess of Seiryuu. Miaki returns to find that her best friend is now her worst enemy.

From then on it's a race between the two countries to discover the Celestial Warriors and summon their respective beast god. A misguided Yui turns against her best friend time and again, jealous over the relationship Miaka has with Tamahome, while Miaka desperately tries to save her friend and find a way to stay by Tamahome's side forever.

Oh hey, guess what. It's a reverse harem! Every single member of the Suzaku Seven is a devastatingly beautiful male. No surprise there. It is quite surprising when one of the Seiryuu Seven turns out to be female. Love triangles abound as Hotohori and Tamahome fight over Miaka, cross-dressing (Suzaku warrior) Nuriko fights for Hotohori's attention, Yui tries to steal Tamahome away, (Seiryuu warrior) Suboshi tries to turn Yui's thoughts away from Tamahome, and (Seiryuu warrior) Soi tries to melt Nakago's icy heart. It's every bit as melodramatic as it sounds.

But it's not all lovers spats and making out. There's action to be had. These are warriors after all, and they are all in the middle of a massive war between Konan and Kutou. Summoning the beast gods isn't easy. Especially when you screw it up the first time and have to find another way (hey, there's 52 episodes here, and Miaka finds all seven warriors in the first two discs, so they have to keep it going somehow). There are plenty of fights between the opposing Celestial Warriors, though Tamahome and Nakago do a majority of the fighting. Tamahome even goes a little super saiyan, which actually seems rather overboard and out of place, to be honest. But expect more romantic angst than bloody battles.

It's not a bad show really. The concept is built up OK, but the show does have its problems. For example, there's like ten episodes in the second half of the series, where the Seiryuu are just trying different ways of raping Miaka. It's really ridiculous. And Tamahome and Miaka are continuously coming up with reasons to push the other away. It always ends the same way, so I kind of wished they'd just stop it. I guess it's supposed to provide romantic tension, but like I said, it ends the same way each time. There's no question that they won't end up together; the only question is if they'll be allowed to stay together. The animation is OK. The show is from 1995-1996, so the animation is a little dated. The biggest problem is an over use of unnecessary flashbacks (like showing an event that just happened a minute ago within the same episode), recycled animations (like a character running through a crowd which is just looped every two seconds), things of that nature. Some flashbacks serve to recap the series (about halfway through, which is normal for a long show), or as a replay of a character's life upon their death. But there also seems to be a lot of scenes replayed or sequences reused simply to fill time. There's a lot of repetitious dialog as well, and the plot sometimes goes around in circles.

I watched it in English, which was tolerable. Actually it was better than I was expecting, but there were a lot of weird inflections and bad translations. Music was alright. The opening animation is fairly nice; the ending uses Watase's art on one side, and replays scenes from the episodes on the other. And I will say this for Miaka: she really changes throughout the course of the story; she grows a lot and has learned quite a bit by the end. Which is more than I can say for a lot of heroines of this genre. And way more than I can say for the heroine of Watase's other work I've seen, Absolute Boyfriend.

Berserk

2010-02-01T22:53:00.003-06:00

This show is fantastic. In fact, there’s only one thing that would prevent me from calling this a truly great show. That, dear readers, is one of the most annoying endings to a series I’ve ever seen. Everything about this show is great – the characters, story, music, animation, bloody violence, character relationships. But then the show ends on what is hard to call anything other than a cliffhanger. It stops, mid-story, and in fact, mid-battle. It’s easy to assume that the creators of the anime planned to continue with another season, and there were talks of such a thing, but it never happened. For a show that’s over a decade old, it isn’t likely there ever will be another season. However! Don’t let this discourage you! You won’t regret sitting down to watch this, despite the bizarre ending. And if you’re really into it, you can also read the manga from where the anime leaves off.

Berserk is a down-and-dirty violent fantasy series. It’s about war, purpose, ambition, life and death, love, and friendship. The show opens with a man known as the Black Swordsman, who wields an enormous deadly sword that cuts down anyone in his way. During a gruesome battle, something reminds him of a man he once knew, and the series quickly goes back in time to a much younger version of the swordsman, a scrappy orphan named Guts. The rest of the series will follow Guts from his training under the mercenary leader Gambino, to his meeting with legendary mercenary leader Griffith and his Band of the Hawk, and the life changing events that result.

When he first meets Griffith, Guts is single-handedly taking on the Band of the Hawk. After watching for a while, Griffith steps in and insists that Guts fight him one-on-one. His terms are only that if he wins, Guts must join his mercenaries (basically, that Griffith will “own” him). Miraculously, Griffith’s impeccable skill with his sabre manages to beat Guts’s immense (but undisciplined) strength and great sword. Not everyone is pleased with this new addition, and many become jealous of the attention Guts receives from Griffith. Guts becomes Griffith’s other half, taking on the most dangerous missions, and eventually becoming the leader of his own division. Griffith trusts him completely, and Guts becomes the foundation upon which Griffith’s ambitions are built. Griffith has long harbored great dreams, believing himself to have a greater destiny than some nameless mercenary, wanting even his own kingdom to rule. With Guts at his side, this goal slowly but surely comes closer and closer to fruition.

Yet while Griffith’s dreams are coming true, Guts is only along for the ride. He eventually realizes that his entire life has been helping Griffith accomplish his goals, rather than accomplishing any goals of his own. The result of his own desires manifesting, separately from Griffith’s, causes a cataclysmic event no one could have foreseen. A fortune teller once told them that their fates were bound together, which is a big theme of the series. The opening dialog of each show asks the viewers if there is a guiding force, and states, “At least it is true, that man has no control, even over his own will.” All of the characters struggle with or against their fates. Or get caught in the fates of others, like the Band of the Hawk’s only female member, Casca. Behind only Griffith and Guts in terms of skill, this woman commands her own division, and takes over the entire band in the future. She struggles with her feelings of love for both great men, and gets wrapped up in their destinies in some truly brutal ways.

The show is about as well animated as other shows of its time, which is to say, that it looks like a show from the ’90s. But it’s well designed, well animated, has an excellent soundtrack, and there’s plenty of blood spewing all over the screen to satisfy any action fan. The opening and closing themes are fantastic, especially the opening song “Tell Me Why” by Penpals, which is accompanied by a terrific animation sequence (check it out here, and here’s a video of the ending theme for those interested).

The English translation is kind of goofy on occasion (like Guts yelling out, during an internal struggle, “Anything to get rid of the voices!”), but mostly it’s fairly solid. The core voice actors are pretty good, especially since a show like this could easily get really cheesy and out of hand. Though some of these guys do seem to be having a bit too much fun sometimes, especially when performing an evil laugh. For the interested, Guts is voiced by Marc Diraison, Griffith by Kevin T. Collins, and Casca by Carolyn Keranen.

Really, this one was far better than I had been expecting when I rented it via Netflix, but I’m very happy I went for it. It should appeal to fans of shows like Record of Lodoss War (the first series) and Claymore. There are some nice DVD extras too, like art galleries, interviews, production sketches, clean credits, and English VA outtakes. There are 25 episodes, and you can get the entire collection in a thinpak set for about $45 (licensed by Media Blasters). It's bloody fantasy. Lots of spewing blood, slicing off of limbs, rampaging demons, rape, sex, nudity, various adult themes…. It’s an adult show from start to finish, so don’t let your kiddies watch it.

Originally posted at ComicAttack.net on January 25, 2010.

Sorry for a lack of updates here. Been very busy with CA and manga reviews. And anyway, I haven't watched a ton of anime this year. I finished Gun x Sword last week, which was...OK. May talk about that later. About to start Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play. Not real impressed with the new season of anime, other than Nodame Cantabile's finale. Still waiting on some upcoming live action shows, like Skip Beat...and there was another I was looking forward to which I unfortunately can't recall right now. Kuroshitsuji is getting another season later this year...with a new cast of characters. Not super interested in that, but I'm willing to give it a shot given the previous series's (which I loved) production value.

Guns and UFOs

2010-01-19T08:32:00.000-06:00

My first two titles for the new year started off with a bang. And by that I mean that they were filled with various explosions. The first, NieA under 7, was extremely underwhelming. The second, Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino, did not live up to my fondness for its predecessor, but had its own charms.

NieA7 is a slice of life comedy about a young woman named Mayuko who is studying for her college entrance exams; which, despite being at the top of her class, she didn't pass the first time around. NieA is her alien roommate. Several years ago an alien ship crash landed in the small town of Enohana. This deposited a host of aliens into the town, an addition which the human residents adapted to remarkably quickly. The aliens have a hierarchy among themselves, which also dictates their citizenship status on Earth. NieA is the lowest of the low, a base alien with no antenna on her head, like all other aliens have. She was living in Mayuko's closet before Mayuko moved in, and just didn't leave. She now freeloads off Mayuko and the Enohana Bathhouse, where they live. NieA causes a lot of trouble for Mayuko, collecting junk and building (mostly explosive) UFOs, eating her food, loafing about...but in the end, she does care for Mayuko as a friend. Mayu meanwhile spends every waking moment just trying to get by in the world, going to cram school and working three part-time jobs, hoping that the struggling bathhouse remains in business so she won't lose her home.

NieA7 seems to have a story in there somewhere, they just don't bother to tell it. Something mildly interesting is going on, something is hinted at all over the place, regarding the alien mother ship...but nothing ever comes of it. In the end it's tossed aside without any explanations, making the whole series kind of pointless.
The animation is pretty awful, but I think that may be on purpose. The voice acting on the other hand...well, it's not brilliant. It's actually not bad as far as emoting and inflection goes; it's just kind of grating, and the sound quality isn't the best either.
NieA Under 7 is 13 episodes long, based on a doujinshi by Yoshitoshi ABe, and was released domestically by Pioneer.

Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino is the second season of this girls-with-guns anime. It picks up pretty much right where the first series left off, but don't expect it to just be GSG part II. Il Teatrino has a completely different tone, style, and focus than its predecessor. The first GSG was a melancholy work of art, focusing mostly on Henrietta and her handler Jose, who fit the tone of the show perfectly. Il Teatrino delves more deeply into the manga, and breaks away from the Social Welfare Agency to tell the story of bomb makers Franco and Franca, and the Five Republics Faction of terrorists. The girls and their handlers are still there, but now that their stories have already been told, and we already know who they are, there's less focus on them individually. Triela has a large role this time around, developing a personal vendetta against Five Republics assassin Pinocchio, who humiliated her in one-on-one combat. There is very little focus on the handlers, though we do learn more about Jose and Marco's (Angelica's handler) backgrounds. The focus is strongly on the terrorist faction, particularly Franco, Franca, and Pinocchio.
The colors in Il Teatrino are brighter, the music more upbeat, the animation style completely changed (GSG by Madhouse, IT by Artland), the characters distinctly more cartoonish looking (rather than a more artful, realistic design like before) with their large eyes and round faces. It's a totally different show. And yet it isn't. The girls are still there, they're still struggling with their identities, their fates are still heartbreaking. And there's something to be said about watching adorable little Rico beat the living daylights out of someone while her handler Jean looks coldly on.
The animation isn't the only thing changed, however. The Japanese cast has completely changed, so if you prefer your anime subtitled, be prepared for all new voices. If you prefer your anime in English, then never fear, because FUNimation brought back the original cast (with just a couple exceptions).

Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino runs 13 episodes, and was released by FUNimation in a 2-DVD thinpak box. A couple notes here.... For whatever reason, FUNimation decided to change Franca's name to Flanca in their dub. I have no idea why. In the subtitles she's Franca, in Japanese she's Franca, and in the manga she's Franca. The point, I had thought, was that her partner's name is Franco, so he named her Franca (like, Francesco, Francesca); I guess FUNi doesn't agree with that assessment. Also, while the DVD covers are double sided with gorgeous artwork...they're printed backward, so that the front has the episode titles, and the back has the art. Their Romeo X Juliet DVDs are like this too; I'm not sure why they decided to print them this way. The only thing I can think of is that they want you to see the art side first when you slide the case out of the box. If that's not the case, then I have no idea what they're thinking.

Things have been going strong at ComicAttack! Been doing lots of manga reviews, so check them out! I also joined the legions of twitterers; it's really excellent for networking. Anyway, I can be found at: @girlg33k_Kris.
Right now I'm watching Trigun (again, because I haven't seen it in years and just managed to purchase the series last year), and Gun x Sword, which is like smushing Cowboy Bebop together with Big O - one of my favorite titles with one of my least favorites. I'll attempt to explain that when I review the title once I've finished.

January 2010 - Recaps

2010-01-07T21:43:00.003-06:00

So if you saw my last post, you may have noticed that I watched several titles at the end of last year, but didn't bother to review them. I may never get around to long reviews, so I thought I'd do some short blurbs about them.

We'll start with Berserk. I loved this show until the final episode, where the series just...stops. Right in the middle of a storyline, and in fact, right in the middle of a huge battle. It just ends, and there's no resolution. You can read the manga to continue the event, and I certainly recommend reading the manga anyway, but I wonder if they had thought they would get another season, and then didn't. Because it really ends unreasonably. Otherwise, the show is fantastic. Perfect for fantasy fans (if you like shows like Record of Lodoss War, specifically the first series, you should enjoy Berserk). It is a mature title as well; lots of blood, gore, sex, dismemberment, demons, pedophilia...adult visuals and adult themes. Don't watch it with your kids, basically.

Romeo x Juliet...it was probably my favorite title the season it aired (spring/summer 2007). I really adored it. It's Romeo and Juliet without being Romeo and Juliet. All the characters are there (at least in name), the very basic theme of family rivalry is there (so you can have your star-crossed lovers)...but the similarities end there. There's a boy named Romeo, and he's in love with a girl named Juliet. After that it's a whole new ball game. It does get a bit weird near the end, where the story ventures off into some bizarre, mystical, apocalyptic fantasy mess.... But it holds together with gorgeous animation, a superb score, strong characters, and a tender love story.

Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter (S2). It's almost over, and while I can't wait for the story to wrap up, I'm also saddened that it's going to end because it's one of the best shows out there.

The Daughter of Twenty Faces was another favorite of mine in the season it aired (spring/summer 2008). This smart, well animated, intriguing story gets rather loss in a mass of moe titles, but it's worth searching out. It's a little Lupin III, and little Detective Conan; toss in some steam punk, old fashioned character designs with modern animation, a strong female lead, and a suspenseful story. It goes from warm and fuzzy to totally brutal in a finger snap, then back again.

Hayate no Gotoku S2 veers a bit from it's focus on Nagi and Hayate, and focuses more on Hayate and Hinagiku. Nagi practically becomes a background character. As such, the show switched focus from a heavy gag comedy, to having more serious character and relationship development. It's still good, but I miss the feel of the first season.

Gakuen Heaven. All-boys school, all pretty boys, all gay boys. Whoopee. Implausible, absurd, and with a totally uninteresting lead character. Story wasn't much either.

Piano. Slow and dull. Should have been warm and cute. Watch Nodame instead, or even La Corda d'Oro.

Zettai Kareshi live action special. Unnecessary and a little annoying, but it's hard to say "no" to more Hiro Mizushima.

Think that covers everything that I lumped on there. Oh, and PS - Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is awesome.

Anime of 2009

2010-01-01T10:03:00.006-06:00

'Tis the season for lists! And I've got a couple. If you'd like a hastily compiled look at some of my favorite comic titles for the year, you can go to Comic Attack for some staff picks. I'm at the bottom.

Today I'm just gonna lay out the 40+ anime and anime/manga related titles I watched this year. In a little while, I'm going to do a compiled, quickie review of the recent titles I've watched but haven't gotten around to reviewing. So be sure to check back for that. Anyway, here's what I watched in 2009, with links to any reviews that I did for the titles.
If you see something that wasn't reviewed, but you'd like a review, or at least some notes on the title, let me know!

Kuroshitsuji

School Rumble S1

Mushi-Shi

Solty Rei

Moon Phase

Sasami Magical Girls Club

xxxHolic S1

Suzuka

Yu Yu Hakusho S1

Full Metal Alchemist S1

Ouran High School Host Club

Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens

Galaxy Railways

Le Chevalier D’Eon

Afro Samurai

Kino’s Journey

The Twelve Kingdoms

Legend of Crystania: the Motion Picture

Legend of Crystania: The Chaos Ring

Elfen Lied

Tales of the Abyss (Jay's Toybox review)

Chaos Head

Midori Days

Paradise Kiss

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

Skip Beat!

xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Ghost in the Shell S.A.C.: Solid State Society

Gun Buster (1)

Diebuster (Gunbuster 2)

Texhnolyze

K-On

Black Lagoon

Gokusen

Yu Yu Hakusho season 2

Ah! My Goddess the Movie

Gokusen LA seasons 1-3

Mushi-Shi LA

Kamikaze Girls LA

Antique Bakery LA

Goong LA

Scrapped Princess

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (S1)

Noir

AIR the movie

Last Quarter LA

Berserk

Romeo x Juliet

Nodame Cantabile S2 Paris Chapter

The Daughter of Twenty Faces

Hayate no Gotoku S2

Gakuen Heaven

Piano

Zettai Kareshi LA special

And that's that! I've got plenty of titles backed up to take me into the new year, and I'm watching NeiA7 through Netflix right now. I got the Evangelion 1.0 movie for Christmas, along with the first 13 episodes of Moribito (I have the rest on DVR, so I can watch it all if I want). Plus I've been sitting on Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino and Xenosaga the Animation for a while, and I've never watched either. I keep starting AIR up (which I have seen already), but get distracted by other things. I don't know much about the anime coming out this year, but I do know the final season of the Nodame Cantabile anime should air this spring, and there should be at least one live action film for it as well. A Gokusen LA film that came out last year should be hitting DVD soon, too.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and good luck in 2010!

Itazura na Kiss

2009-12-15T23:02:00.002-06:00

Itazura na Kiss is a charming romantic comedy. The story focuses on clumsy, average (and generally unintelligent) Kotoko Aihara, and handsome boy genius Naoki Irie. Calling Naoki a genius is really an understatement; he’s more like a prodigy. He’s good at everything. He instantly memorizes anything he looks at once, he’s good at sports, he can cook, he’s popular (not in that he has a lot of friends, but that he has many followers), top of his class, one of the best in the entire country, skilled at just about everything he attempts, and is good looking on top of all that. Poor Kotoko is…less intelligent. She’s closer to the bottom of her class, has difficulty studying, can’t cook, isn’t particularly good at sports, isn’t exactly drop-dead gorgeous, and is really the total opposite of the kind of girl Naoki would normally be interested in.

In fact, the book starts off with Kotoko attempting to give Naoki a love letter…which is rejected before it even leaves her hands. Poor Kotoko is devastated by his callous rejection, and vows to put that jerk out of her mind forever. But when an earthquake destroys the new house her father just built, they are forced to move in with an old friend of her father’s…who happens to be Naoki’s father. Naoki makes her promise not to tell anyone of their situation, but circumstances (like Kinnosuke, who is in love with Kotoko, following her home) ultimately reveal their situation to the entire school. Then rumors start spreading that they’re dating, then that they’re getting married, and Naoki is not happy. Making the situation more chaotic is Naoki’s mother, Machiko, trying to push the two together against their (or well, at least Naoki’s) will. She is thrilled to have a girl in the house to dote on, and thinks Kotoko would be a perfect match for her son.

Against Naoki’s wishes, he continually finds himself involved in various situations with Kotoko. He helps her study for her exams because she blackmails him with a childhood photo, Machiko makes up an excuse to clear out the house so Naoki and Kotoko can be alone for a couple of days, and in general Kotoko causes him unending trouble. Naoki is unused to such a hectic life, and Kotoko’s presence throws everything off for him. But for this goalless guy who has no real passion for anything, Kotoko’s enthusiasm is just what the doctor ordered.

What makes Itazura stand out from a sea of shojo titles, is its time span. The story follows Kotoko and Naoki through their final year of high school, their time in college, through internships, and official jobs. All of the characters grow and change over the course of their lives. Some of them get married and have children. It’s not just a moment in time; it’s a lifetime.

I really think I was too hard on Itazura before, when I saw the anime. I didn’t like Kotoko at all; I’m not a fan of girls who throw themselves on or fawn over guys who obviously don’t like them, or put up with such obvious cold treatment. But I’ve read Sarasah recently, which is infinitely worse, and realized that Kotoko isn’t so bad. The heroine of Sarasah really has no redeeming qualities to speak of; but I’ve come to understand that Kotoko is compassionate, caring, supportive, and an incredibly hard worker. All admirable qualities; she just needed Naoki to give her a chance. Circumstances threw her into his vision, and he was forced to see her for who she really is, and not just judge her by her standing in school. And, you know, Naoki really isn’t that bad; he’s the sort of person who is so consumed with studying, that he doesn’t really know how to properly interact with people or convey his emotions. He’s a snob, certainly, but it seems to be a wall that he puts up to avoid interacting with people. It really takes an open, passionate girl like Kotoko to pull him out, and it’s going to take all of her effort to get Naoki off his lofty perch, and down where the normal humans roam.

Itazura na Kiss is published by Digital Manga Publishing, for $16.95 (for a double volume). The manga remains unfinished due to the mangaka's untimely death, but it was finished in the anime, which used her intended ending. A copy was provided to me by Digital Manga Publishing for review (thanks!).

Goong Live Action

2009-12-02T18:00:00.000-06:00

What if Korea still had a royal family, a ruling monarchy, in this modern time? Now that we've created the setting.... What if you saw your fiancee proposing to another woman? This is the situation Shin Chae-kyung finds herself in - Chae-kyung overhears Crown Prince Shin proposing to classmate and ballet dancer Min Hyo-rin, and then just days later finds herself in an arranged marriage with him!

Before he died, the king of the previous generation, Prince Shin's grandfather, made a promise with his only true friend. This promise engaged the current Crown Prince to his friend's granddaughter (Chae-kyung). At the time however, the Crown Prince was not Shin, but the current heir's son, Yul. When Yul's father died in an accident, Shin's father became the heir and Shin became the Crown Prince. So you can see how some problems would arise. A love quadrangle forms before you can even spit out the word "quadrangle."

Shin is the heir to the throne, but Yul isn't about to let him take that position without fighting back to reclaim what should have been his - and that includes Chae-kyung as well as the throne. Problems arise when Yul's vengeful, ambitious mother pulls out all the stops to bring herself and her son back into the palace. Yul plays along for a while, dutiful to his mother, until his love for Chae-kyung overwhelms all his other feelings. Meanwhile, Shin struggles to deal with his feelings for Hyo-Rin, which he is forced to put aside, and strange, emerging feelings for the unlikely Chae-kyung. Chae-kyung struggles endlessly with palace life, her upbeat and outgoing personality constantly at odds with palace rules and regulations. It's hard to decide which boy to root for. They're both good guys, in their way. Shin is just more awkward and less honest with his feelings, and Yul is more forward. But they both care for her - Shin does lots of little things to make her happy or take care of her, though she doesn't always notice; and Yul's stance of not letting his mother screw around with her is admirable.

There's political intrigue, plenty of drama, lots of humor, gorgeous sets and costumes, sweet romance, hot guys, beautiful girls.... What else do you need?
It's a really beautifully shot show, in terms of the environments and the costumes. They went all out. The set designs are incredibly detailed, and the use of updated traditional clothing for the royal family is superb. And apparently very expensive, though I'm sure the level of detail and realism was very helpful to actors, and it certainly gives everything a believable look.

The older actress (Kim Hye Ja) playing the Queen mother has a beautiful, melodious voice, and it sounds like she's singing a song every time she speaks. Yoon Eun Hye is amazing as lead character Chae-kyung, and she's a newcomer! In fact, (most of) the younger actors were fairly new, while the adult characters were veterans; a dynamic that transfers into the story. Shin was played by handsome Joo Ji Hoon, who later appeared in the Korean Antique Bakery film. The main gang is rounded out by talented Kim Jeong Hoon as Yul, and Song Ji Hyo as Hyo-rin.

Unfortunately, I am unable to compare this to the manhwa, because I have not read it. I've skimmed a tiny bit of it, and it looks entertaining. I did notice that the characters in the comic seem a little more animated than their live action counterparts (specifically Shin). But, you know, internal thoughts are a little hard to convey on a screen.

The story does move a little slow, I will admit. I think it could do to have a couple of episodes knocked off, and a few things consolidated. Shin and Chae-kyung bounce back and forth in their relationship an excessive amount, and often you just wish they would TALK to each other, because it would solve things really quick. But Shin is incredibly private and emotionally awkward, and he's constantly put off by how outgoing and honest Chae-kyung is, so it's understandable.

You can purchase Goong, known as Palace or Princess Hours in America (the DVDs are sold as Palace), from the American licensor YA Entertainment. (I got mine from Rightstuf.com.) The box set of the series comes with a bonus disc that has interviews, bloopers, and behind the scenes footage (most of which is really funny).

Head over to Comic Attack for Ludwig II, The Art of Angel Sanctuary: Angel Cage, and December 2009's Previews highlights.

Last Quarter

2009-11-21T22:53:00.000-06:00

Oh dear! It's been almost a month since my last post. Sorry about that! ComicAttack is keeping me busy (and so is Dragon Age). But I did want to talk about a lovely film I watched recently, while waiting for Berserk DVDs to come in. This live action film is based on the manga of the same name (in Japanese, Kagen no Tsuki) by Ai Yazawa (Paradise Kiss, Nana). It is called Last Quarter, which is a reference to the last quarter phase of the moon.

When Mizuki was a child, her mother committed suicide, and her father married his mistress, with whom he had a child. Unhappy with her home life, her 19th birthday is further marred by the discovery that her boyfriend (Tomoki) cheated on her with her best friend. Depressed, she walks home alone late in the evening. As she passes by a mansion, she hears a haunting and familiar tune coming from inside. Inside, a young man is playing the tune on his guitar. Mizuki confesses that she learned piano to play the same tune, though she doesn't know the ending, and that she had never heard anyone else play the song before. The young man, who calls himself Adam, claims he wrote the song for her. Confused, but somehow drawn to him, Mizuki returns to the house the next day and stays there with Adam through the week. On the last day, on the evening of a waning moon, a disappeared Adam calls her to tell her he must leave. She pleads with him to take her with him, and Adam tells her that if they see each other before the moon fades that night, they will go together. But what it means to go with Adam, is something that will have a profound effect not only on her own life, but on the lives of those around her. The mysterious Adam leaves everyone scrambling to discover his true identity, and his connection to Mizuki, in order to save Mizuki before the last quarter of the moon fades away for 19 years.

This beautiful story will have you feeling melancholy by the end. It might even elicit a few tears. Love, karma, reincarnation, trust, desperation. All the elements for a tragic love story. Dark and gothic, this is a beautifully filmed movie. The special effects are nice (though not perfect), and the music is fitting. Mizuki is heartbreaking; Adam has an ethereal beauty and a well of sadness that makes you want to wrap him in your arms and hold him tight; and the high school students that try to help Mizuki are endearing. Tomoki...you either love him or hate him, as a character. It's a little difficult to root for him, honestly, given what he's done to Mizuki, and you kind of want to punch him in the face sometimes. All the actors hold their own and capture their characters quite well.

The film stars Chiaki Kuriyama (Gogo in Kill Bill vol. 1) as Mizuki, Hyde (the vocalist from L'Arc-en-Ciel) as Adam, and Hiroki Narimiy a (Gokusen, Nana) as Mizuki's boyfriend Tomoki.

For the interested: Last week's Bento Bako Weekly was a review of Natsuki Takaya's Tsubasa: Those With Wings (er, sorry, two weeks ago; last week I (re)posted my S1 Yu Yu Hakusho review). Monday's will be a review of the yaoi manga Ludwig II.

AIR the Motion Picture

2009-10-31T17:42:00.005-05:00

An easy (though not entirely accurate) way of describing this film would be to call it AIR Lite. AIR the Motion Picture is a very simplified retelling of the television anime by Kyoto Animation, which is itself closely based on the visual novel AIR by Key.

The first thing you'll notice, assuming you have already seen the anime series (which I would suggest watching first), is a completely different animation style. This is because while the anime was produced by KyoAni, the film was produced by Toei Animation. Toei gives the film more of a visual novel look, but skips around between animation styles multiple times throughout the film. By that I mean, there's a main style they use for most of the film, but occasionally they use completely different styles scattered throughout. The next thing you may notice is that most of the cast has been cut from the film. All of the girls except Misuzu have been removed from the story. Haruko is still there, as is Kano's older sister Hijiri, the town doctor. Some of the other characters have brief, visual cameos, but the story only follows Misuzu and Yukito this time.

If you haven't seen the anime series, there are some spoilers in the film. So I would stop reading now if you haven't seen the series, and wait until I get around to reviewing that instead (or just go watch it!).

Yukito travels to a small seaside town, where he meets Misuzu, a high school girl working on a summer school project about the history of the town. Yukito plans to stay in town to practice his mysterious puppet trade during an upcoming festival, and Misuzu invites him to stay at her house with her and Haruko, as long as he helps her with her summer project. Interspersed throughout their adventures around the town (during which Misuzu exihibits the symptoms of a mysterious illness) is a story about a winged creature named Kanna and her bodyguard Ryūya. Misuzu is following this story as part of her project, because the story is woven into the history of her town and is the basis for the upcoming festival. As the two get closer, Misuzu gets sicker, the result of an old curse placed upon Kanna's race that causes them to die when they verbally express their love for someone.

Toei's animation isn't nearly as beautiful as KyoAni's in the series. The character designs have been changed (specifically Misuzu and Yukito), both visually and in their personalities. It's not drastic, but it's a difference. For example, anime Misuzu is far more childlike than she is depicted in the film. The curse and the story of Kanno and Ryūya play out quite a bit differently as well. In the film, there is a strong romantic relationship between the two, which doesn't really exist in the anime series. It's a good film, on its own; but personally, I prefer the series. The only real upside to the film is that it focuses only on Misuzu and Yukito, instead of having Yukito running around town and helping other girls. But it wouldn't be a Key game based anime series without those extra relationships. So my original declaration of it being AIR Lite is still a decent description. By cutting out 90% of the characters and their stories, the main story is much more simplified. But that's not AIR.

AIR the Motion Picture was originally licensed by ADV Films, but the rights have since transferred to FUNimation for any future distribution. I watched this in Japanese, but I did listen to the English version long enough to note that the same voice actors from the anime were used. So if you want the consistency...because the voice actor for Yukito changes in the Japanese version. Even so, when I watched the anime in English, I was really turned off by the voices and didn't think they fit the characters, so I automatically watched this one in Japanese.

This week's Bento Bako:
Vampires in Anime/Manga, part 2 (the...lesser titles)
November 2009 Previews selections

Black Lagoon

2009-10-19T08:00:00.002-05:00

My boyfriend was around while I watched most of this series, and he would ask me, "Why do you like this?" I think the question came because I typically don't go for over-the-top action, with lots of gun fights and explosions. Things that characterize nearly every minute of every episode of Black Lagoon. Never mind the foul-mouthed, scantily clad leading lady who likes to shoot first, and shoot later (there's no talking involved, unless she's yelling at someone about wanting to shoot them). Yet somehow this excessively violent, foul (as in vulgar), dark and hilarious anime struck all the right notes with me.

Rock (Rokuro) Okajima is Japanese salaryman, on business for his company. The ship he is on is attacked by a group of mercenaries/smugglers known as the Lagoon Company. In an effort to first recover, and then to cover up a disc containing classified documents, Rock's company abandons him to his fate. He somehow manages to survive, but refuses to go back to his calm life in Japan, instead choosing to stay and become a member of the Lagoon Company. This band of misfits includes large and tough Dutch, the owner of the Lagoon Company and captain of their smuggling boat; easygoing and peaceful Benny, the company's mechanic and technology expert; and foul-mouth expert dual gunslinger Revy "Two Hand", the company's...well I think it's pretty obvious what she does. Rock joins on as a diplomat, the negotiating voice of the company, and he also serves to keep the short-tempered Revy in check. The story follows the group from one dangerous situation to another, including raiding an old sunken WWII German submarine, running various errands for Russian Mafia branch leader Balalaika, fighting off bounty hunters, and various other situations that typically involve getting shot at and blowing things up.

The city of Roanapur, where the company is located, is full of many other colorful characters. Roanapur is mostly controlled by the Russian mafia group Hotel Moscow, and the local branch of the Chinese Hong Kong Triad. Hotel Moscow is run by former soviet captain Balalaika, whose former troops make up most of her elite squad. The Triad is run by Mr. Chang (one of my favorite characters), an ex-law enforcement officer with an easygoing attitude, who is highly skilled at wielding dual pistols. They maintain a delicate balance of power within the city, often with the aid of the Lagoon Company, which frequently works for both sides. The Church of Violence (more commonly referred to as the Rip-Off Church) poses as a Catholic church, but secretly runs an illegal arms smuggling operation. A one-eyed, tough talking nun runs the operation, along with a smart mouthed, trigger happy woman known as Eda (who also poses as a nun). Eda and Revy are frequently at each other's throats, though they also fight well together when pressed. There are also plenty of bounty hunters around; such as the Taiwanese knife master Shenhua, who speaks in hilariously broken English; the constantly high Irish getaway driver Leigharch; and the voice-box talking, chainsaw wielding, pint-sized girl Sawyer the Cleaner.

The relationship between Revy and Rock is one of the most interesting in the series. At times he is able to calm her down, but at others he only makes things worse. When he once lectures her for what he perceives as grave robbing, she threatens to kill him if he ever tries to force his morals on her again. Rock's naivety and innocence from living a normal life often make Revy uncomfortable and angry, but there are times when she does her best to protect that innocence from the evils of the world she lives in. It often bothers her that Rock lives between the light and the darkness, while she has always lived and always will live in the darkness; she even tries to convince him to go back home, but he feels more at home with Lagoon Company than he ever did in Japan. So as you can see, there are some more serious themes in the show, and the characters are more complicated than they appear on the surface; it's not all explosions and massive shoot-outs...though there's certainly plenty of that to go around.

Originally released by Geneon, you can now find the series re-released by FUNimation. The 24 episode anime is sold in two 12-episode sets - Black Lagoon, and Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage. There's also a manga, distributed by Viz Media, and a light novel that is currently unlicensed. A third season should be out in 2010. The show features excellent animation from Madhouse, great music by Edison, and a totally rockin' intro theme called "Red Fraction" by Mell. The normal discs come with standard DVD extras (clean credits and the like), but if you buy the sets (each season comes in a lovely steelbook) you get a bonus disc in each with things like interviews and music videos. Though the only thing I really found worth watching was the fantastic "Red Fraction" music video. The English voice over is pretty solid, though I was bothered by the sometimes heavy, sometimes missing Russian accent for Balalaika. Shenhua's (Saffron Henderson) broken English comes out hilariously, though. Megumi Toyoguchi is very distinctive as Revy, but Maryke Hendrikse also does a good job.

If you're a fan of shows like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun or Outlaw Star, this should be right up your alley.

This week's Bento Bako Weekly is a re-do of my Midori Days review. I'll be out of town next weekend, so I don't think I will have a Girl G33k post. But if you go over to ComicAttack.net, you'll get the first half of my two columns highlighting vampire anime and manga.

Skip Beat!

2009-10-12T11:37:00.003-05:00

I was working on a Black Lagoon anime review, but got busy with various things. If I don't get it up later this week, it will go up next week instead.

However, I did do a review of one of my absolute favorite shojo manga, Skip Beat!, over at ComicAttack.net. You should head over there and read it.

Noir

2009-10-04T08:00:00.001-05:00

This week we'll be looking at Noir. This 26 episode anime series was directed by Kōichi Mashimo (Dirty Pair: Project Eden, many .hack// series), written by Ryoe Tsukimura, produced by Bee Train, and released domestically by ADV.

Mireille Bouquet is a professional assassin who goes by the name "Noir." One day she receives an email from a young girl named Kirika Yuumura, who seems to have some connection to her past. Mireille hunts her down, but the two of them are attacked by unknown assailants. After dispatching them together, Mireille learns that Kirika has amnesia. She knows nothing about her past, but does have a familiar looking pocket watch that plays a familiar sounding tune...one that Mireille knows very well. Having seen Kirika's incredible skills with a gun, and seeing her as a connection to her past, Mireille decides to team up with the mysterious girl in an attempt to unlock the secrets of both their pasts. As they dig deeper into the secrets of an underground world, controlled by the mysterious group known as the Soldats, they discover that they have much more in common than they thought. They also discover what it truly means to use the codename "Noir."

For one of the top assassins around, Mireille's not that great. She's a really good shot, but that's about it. Kirika, some random, amnesiac girl she picks up in the street, is 10x the assassin she is; and she doesn't even have any memories to back up her obvious training. In fact, compared to Kirika and another young assassin they meet later, Mireille kind of sucks. Kirika, on the other hand, is a complete badass; 5 years younger than Mireille, she manages to make the woman look like a complete novice.

Animation is average for...basically anything that moves. It's clear they had some amazing scenic painters (backgrounds and environments are detailed and beautiful), but the animation is mediocre at best. For a show from 2001, it's not that impressive visually. They do pay a lot of attention to the eyes, but only on closeups. And for a show filled with so much violence, death and shooting...there's almost no blood. That's possibly an aesthetic choice, or something to keep it in a lower rating (so it can air during the day); but it is a little odd, and it makes it hard to tell when the main characters have been injured (or how serious the injury was).

The plot is drawn out, predictable and dull. You can see every plot "twist" and reveal coming from a mile away. By the time they get to the moment of some great "secret," it's not interesting anymore. In fact, the entire story in general is not even remotely interesting until disc 4, and then it comes and goes. There are too many episodes; really could have been half that and it would have been fine. 13 instead of 26. I found myself fast forwarding through some of the really slow parts (and ceaseless flash backs) out of impatience. It somehow made me think of Ryoko's Case File...and how I'd rather be watching that instead (even though there's really nothing related about them; it's mostly a genre thing). It's not that I hated it, because I didn't; it was just...uninteresting.

The music is by Yuki Kajiura, who I've mentioned before in my Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle review. I'll say the same thing I said then: her music is beautiful, but it's all basically the same from show to show (or game to game). Actually, in the case of Noir, it really overshadowed the show.

English voice acting is average. I've heard some of these people in other shows, where they did better jobs. Neither vocal track is really notable, other than some pretty outrageous accents in the English dub.

DVD extras include production sketches, clean credits, and interviews. DVD menus are uniquely designed, but they're kind of a pain to navigate.

Ouran High School Host Club

2009-09-27T17:10:00.003-05:00

This delightful show is easily one of my favorites. A shojo romantic comedy that pokes fun of shojo romantic comedies, Ouran High School Host Club is a fantastic riot that should have you crying with laughter. FUNimation has released the series in two box sets, each containing 2 discs, splitting the 26 episodes into sets of 13. The show is based on the ongoing manga of the same name by Bisco Hatori (Millennium Snow), which is published in America by Viz Media.

Commoner Haruhi Fujioka has been accepted to the prestigious Ouran Academy on an honor's scholarship. While searching for a quiet place to study, Haruhi comes across what should be an empty music room...but turns out to be the home to Ouran's famous Host Club. Flabbergasted by a room filled with beautiful, extremely forward, superficial rich boys, Haruhi stumbles backwards into a very expensive vase and smashes it into pieces. The tone of the host club immediately changes, and Haruhi is roped into working as their errand boy to pay off the enormous debt that breaking the vase has created (8 million yen, or 80 thousand dollars). Oddly enough, the seemingly nerdy Haruhi is a natural at talking to the girls and keeping them interested, much to the surprise of the other members of the club. But there's something the frumpy dressed, ambiguous Haruhi forgot to mention - this seemingly male student is really a girl!

The Host Club is comprised of 6 extremely handsome high school students, each representing a specific type of male character to cater to their clients: third-years Mitsukuni "Honey" Haninozuka (boy lolita) and Takashi "Mori" Morinozuka (strong, silent type), second-years Kyoya Otori (a cool megane, and my personal favorite) and Tamaki Suoh (the princely leader), and first-year twins Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin (little devil type). Throw in Haruhi as the "natural" type and you have quite harem. Of course since Haruhi is really a female, this makes Ouran a reverse harem.

The anime follows the club through an average school year, exploring culture festivals, holidays, summer vacation, character relationships, and various commoner activities as well. The members of the club (particularly Tamaki and the twins) are obsessed with the aspects of a commoner's life...specifically Haruhi's life, which causes her unending frustration. The boys of the club are fairly stereotypical (though there's certainly nothing "average" about them), but also pretty overboard, which somehow makes them interesting and unique. Mori has almost no lines at all, Honey is cute almost 24/7, Kyoya is constantly cool and calculating, the twins are always mischievous, and Tamaki is always an idiot (though a kind and intuitive idiot). Haruhi however is about as far from the stereotypical female heroine as she can be, which is the entire point. In fact, she's about as uncooperative a heroine as you'll ever see. It's hard to have a romantic comedy when your heroine shows absolutely no interest in furthering the plot in any interesting ways. But that's what makes the show so great, and the characters themselves recognize her eccentricities and do their best to work with them.

It's hard for me to describe just how entertaining this show is. I laugh out loud every time I watch it, and I've seen it through several times. I love the art style and character designs (which are based on Bisco's art). The manga is hilarious too, but I prefer the way things flow in the anime, and the way the jokes play out. The manga is actually a mess as far as a timeline goes, with chapters drawn based on when they came out in LaLa magazine rather than a set time frame for the story (which is a bit problematic since Honey and Mori basically never graduate so they can stay in the club...which is a bit of a joke in itself); the anime streamlines everything and puts the chapters it uses from the manga into sequential order based on the anime's timeline. It creates its own ending (using some events from the manga, and creating others), but leaves it open in a way. Basically, the major issues are resolved, but there's no reason the story can't continue.

I was worried about the English dubbing at first, because it contains two of my least favorite voice actors - Greg Ayres as Kaoru, and Todd Haberkorn as Hikaru. I was also rather skeptical at Vic Mignogna's ability to hit Tamaki properly. In the end, I was rather impressed. Caitlin Glass voices an amazing Haruhi (the difficult to replace Maaya Sakamoto is the Japanese voice), and did an excellent job directing the entire cast. J. Michael Tatum is lovely as Kyoya (oh, be still my heart!), and both Travis Willingham and Luci Christian are great as Mori and Honey (respectively). Ayres and Haberkorn didn't bother me as much as I thought they would. Only Mignogna felt off somehow, using the same voice he uses to voice Fay in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. It's not that he was bad; he's a very good voice actor. There was just something off about him that is difficult for me to put into words. If, like me, you dislike English do-overs of theme songs, you'll definitely want to switch to the Japanese dub during the credits. I was not at all pleased with the English versions, but the Japanese versions are good songs on their own.

DVD extras include limited commentary, clean credits, English voice over outtakes, manga previews, and clear cases with double sided sleeves showcasing individual characters (so you can put your favorites on the outside).

Yu Yu Hakusho Season 2

2009-09-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

Several months ago I reviewed the first season box set of Yu Yu Hakusho, which covered episodes 1 through 28. This second season release from FUNimation covers episodes 29 through 56.

The first season introduced us to the main characters, and included a tournament segment to decide who would be the heir to Genkai's special technique. It left off on the introduction to the Dark Tournament, a tournament for teams of demons (or the rare highly skilled humans) to compete against each other for a grand prize. This second season follows this tournament, but does not conclude it; you'll need to buy season 3 for that. It covers most of it, and ends at the beginning of Yusuke's team's final round against Team Toguro.

Due to the season's focus on this tournament saga, there's not a whole lot of (over arching) story or character development. Each of our heroes grow in power, but there's not a whole lot of individual character progression. The exception here is Genkai, who has her big moment within the season; we learn about her past and why she chose to disguise herself to attend the tournament. We also say farewell to the aging master, as her past comes back to haunt her.

Yusuke's growth is mostly dependent on Genkai. In the last season, he went through intense training to get ready for the tournament, which gave him the ability to use his spirit gun more than once per day (he also developed some new ways to use it). This season he goes through yet another training period with Genkai to learn her special technique, and finally hatches his spirit egg (from the beginning of season 1). Kuwabara gets some help from Kurama and learns new ways to use his spirit sword. Kurama's biggest secret is revealed, as is his true power (and his incredibly sexy true form). Hiei struggles to control his Jagan Eye and the overwhelmingly powerful hell fire he can summon. The girls take a back seat, almost literally, as simple spectators of the tournament. Keiko, Kuwabara's sister and Botan all travel to the arena to watch Team Urameshi, providing some commentary and proving that it's not just the contestants in the tournament whose lives are in danger. Koenma also attends, as the "owner" of the team.

Things are a bit more serious this time around (though the fantastic cheese and comedy still abounds). The gang truly struggles with mastering their individual power, and fighting in a tournament that is continually stacked against them. It takes a lot of hard work and some self sacrificing to get to the final round of the tournament. Along the way we're introduced to all sorts of combatants, and several of them make return appearances later in the tournament, and will return again during other sagas in the other seasons.

DVD extras once again include season appropriate character profiles and clean credits. DVD sleeves are reversible (with tinted sketches instead of color pictures on the reverse side) for the box's 2 cases (which contain 4 DVDs).

Scrapped Princess

2009-09-14T07:00:00.003-05:00

Finally got to finish this one, and it was worth the wait. Scrapped Princess is based on a light novel series by Ichiro Sakaki (published in America by Tokyopop, along with a short manga interpretation). It was made into an anime by Studio Bones (Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist), and is licensed in America by Bandai Entertainment. It's available in an Anime Legends complete collection, individual limited edition boxes (with figures), and as individual discs.

The series has some great English voice talent, including Kari Wahlgren as the title character (FLCL, Samurai Champloo, Witch Hunter Robin), the lovely Crispin Freeman as her brother Shannon (Witch Hunter Robin, Last Exile, Hellsing), Bridget Hoffman as her magical sister Raquel (Serial Experiments Lain); and a host of others including Michelle Ruff, Liam O'Brien, Wendee Lee, and Steve Blum.

At first glance, Scrapped Princess appears to be a fantasy show set in the Middle Ages, like Lodoss War. For the first disc, the story maintains this setting. It becomes clear fairly quickly however that things are not what they seem in this world.

The same goes for the Scrapped Princess herself. A prophecy of Grendel, read before the princess was born, predicts that a child will be born that will become the "poison that will destroy the world" by her 16th birthday. As a result her father, the King, ordered her killed shortly after she (and a twin brother) was born. But Pacifica survives, and is adopted by the Casull family. After the death of their parents, Pacifica and her adopted brother and sister, Shannon (a stellar swordsman) and Raquel (a powerful wizard), embark on a journey to escape those who wish to kill the Scrapped Princess, and find somewhere safe to live.

Looking at Pacifica, and given her friendly personality, you wouldn't think that this was the person who is meant to destroy the world. You may have, as I did immediately, reservations about just what exactly she is meant to destroy. The Church of Mauser maintains that the Scrapped Princess must be killed for the preservation of the world, but frankly the Church of Mauser is a little suspect. The way they basically rule everything, force their faith on people, and treat those who think differently doesn't exactly present them as saintly people. It's clear very early on that something about this whole mess is off somehow, but it's going to take a good portion of the 24 episodes to find out just what exactly is going on behind the scenes.

If that all sounds rather serious and depressing, well...it is. Fortunately comic relief is frequently provided (not only by Pacifica) by a wandering apprentice knight named Leopold. Earnest but rather clumsy, Leopold falls in love with Pacifica at first sight, and joins them on much of their journey to help protect her. The show can be very light and goofy, but there's always a lingering shadow over everything.

The cast is full of interesting, complicated characters. Shannon and Raquel aren't just side kicks, along for the ride - they're fully fleshed out and have their own problems, particularly Shannon. Pacifica is a strong heroine for the most part. She is a little whiny, but most of it is just "Wouldn't everyone be happier if I were dead?" or "I don't want people to die because of me." It's good that she recognizes this, but she does say it a bit too often (though in her defense, the whole world hates her and is out to kill her because they think she's going to destroy them). The upside is her strong desire to live despite her depressing thoughts. Otherwise she's very cheerful and just wants to be friends with everyone they meet. Even their enemies, the god-like Peacemakers and the elite army unit Obstinate Arrow, are more than simple antagonists.

The show is very well made, with good animation, an excellent opening and closing, good music, good story, and good voice acting. DVD extras include...not much. Clean credits, and nothing else that I can recall. But the figures that come with the limited edition boxes (I personally own two of them, a large Pacifica and a smaller Shannon) are pretty nice.

Image (left to right, top to bottom): Leopold and Winia, Zephiris and Christopher, Shannon and Raquel, and Pacifica.

Oh! By the way, I'm working for a website called ComicAttack.net now! The majority is American comic books, if that interests you. If not, as well as co-editing the site, I'm also writing a weekly column called Bento Bako Weekly about all things anime and manga. I plan to make it a bit different from what I do here, which is just straight, individual reviews; and instead explore things from a wider angle. It starts this Monday (which, er, is today)!

Mushi-Shi Live Action

2009-09-05T20:32:00.005-05:00

Still having trouble with Scrapped Princess deliveries, I bumped up the Mushi-Shi live action DVD. FUNimation has also titled it as Bugmaster, which is a pretty literal translation, though not exactly accurate. As I (think I) mentioned before in my anime review, the mushi are not strictly insects even though they often take on an insect-like appearance; they are life spirits. The film is directed by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Metropolis, Steamboy), which should say a lot about its quality.

The handsome Jo Odagiri (Shinobi: Heart Under Blade) stars are Ginko, a traveling Mushi Master. The basic plot does not differ from the anime (I can't speak for the manga, but I would assume the same, for the basics at least), and indeed a few instances are woven into the film, including the sound eating mushi, the man trying to capture a rainbow, and the young girl who seals an ancient mushi by writing down the stories told to her by traveling Mushi Masters. The film also explores Ginko's past, so keep that in mind before you decide to watch it. His past, and the circumstances surrounding it, make up a good portion of the film; but Ginko's origin isn't explored in the anime until episode 12, and the girl who writes about mushi appears in episode 20. The film goes beyond what is in the anime however, and Ginko's past comes full circle. It's a fairly complete story from beginning to end (as opposed to just being a random chunk of the story as a whole).

The movie is very well made. There's almost an old fashioned look to it, like a thin film laid across the screen. The costumes and scenery are lovely. Everything fits, and the special effects are well done. The Ginko in the film is a bit different from anime Ginko. Anime Ginko is pretty laid back; live action Ginko is more quiet and very traditional and respectful in his mannerisms. Not to say it's a totally different character, or that anime Ginko is loud and rude; I just think anime Ginko is a little bit more lively. Regardless, Odagiri does an excellent job. Though I do miss the constant cigarette hanging from his lips. Live action Ginko smokes a pipe every now and then, though it's never explained what it is that he's smoking (if you remember from my previous review, it's a special herb that helps keep mushi away).

The film is good about explaining what the mushi are, what they're doing, and how Ginko is handling them. At least until the end when he starts dealing with things that aren't really explained, and some questionable character motivations (from other characters). Overall it's a fantastic transfer into a live action medium.

Now, I can't make a lot of comments on FUNimation's English voice over for the film, because I never watch live action movies in anything other than their original language. It just feels ridiculous and unnatural. I did listen to enough of it (meaning I skipped to a scene where he talked a lot and listened for a couple minutes) to notice that they brought in Travis Willingham to voice Ginko again, which is helpful. In the little bit of the English voice over that I listened to, I got the distinct impression that they were doing animation voice over, not live action voice over. Maybe to some people there isn't a difference, but when I'm watching real people and hearing anime styled voices...that just doesn't work for me, and frankly it was a little silly.

Anyway, watch it, it's a lovely movie.

Tokyopop Dismay

2009-08-31T11:03:00.005-05:00

I had hoped to have Scrapped Princess ready to review today, but due to some very annoying shipping issues, it's very slow going. It's the same issue I had the first time I tried to watch the series, but I got one disc further along this time. Here's hoping that "short wait" tag on my Netflix list will go away quickly so I can finish it up.

I DID get the live action version of Mushi-Shi in the mail, but haven't watched it yet. I'll probably watch it later today, and may review it for next week.

So today will just be a rant day. Though I am seeking some advice. I got some extra birthday money in, and I'm looking at the purchase of one of the following three things. I can get them all for about the same price ($35), so that's not an issue. Which is the problem. Here are my options: Gunslinger Girl - Il Teatrino box set, which is out right now. Nostalgia for the DS, which comes out at the end of October. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 for the DS, which comes out at the end of September. I'm leaning towards Gunslinger Girl right now because it's easier for me to buy that for myself (though I will be ordering it, so I'll have to pay shipping too, which will make it run about $40) than to ask for it as a gift later on. The DS games are ideal Christmas gifts since they're lower in price and easier to find, though I am a little concerned about the availability of a smaller title like Nostalgia by the time Christmas comes around. Decisions, decisions.

Moving on.... I've been very disappointed with the quality of Tokyopop's manga lately. It's completely unacceptable to be asked to pay $11 for something filled with so many careless errors. Fortunately the only TP manga titles I read now are Natsuki Takaya books (they seem to have a monopoly on her works). Both series are short, and nearly over. Other than Return to Labyrinth (which isn't very good, but I got suckered in by my love for the film), which has one volume left, and the novels for Twelve Kingdoms, I won't be reading any other TP titles. They have nothing I'm interested in. Viz has better titles, better quality, and is still a dollar or two cheaper (depending on the title) than TP books. Yen press has been getting some good titles too. Tokyopop used to be a monster in the manga publishing business, but they seem to really be struggling now, and it's not just the economy.

I'll wrap up with a nice little rant to Tokyopop, which covers why I, and many others, are so frustrated with them lately.

Dear Tokyopop,
Why is your editing department one of the worst I've ever seen? Spliced frames and dialog, backward pages, poor grammar, misspellings, mixed dialog, incorrect names. The mistakes are far too frequent. You raised your prices across the board, but you lowered the quality of your paper (to some see-through crap [TP has recently stated they found some new, better paper, but they have not used it yet so we'll see later if this improves the quality...or raises the price]), and the quality of your work has gotten worse. This is not how business works. Yes, the economy is bad, yes everyone is struggling to make money. But lowering quality and raising prices do not go together. It's a slap in the face to the people who spend money on your books. They don't have to; it's so easy to find this stuff for free. But we decide to spend the money on professional quality, and support the industry.

So where is our professional quality? Why is every volume I pick up riddled with mistakes? The recent volume of Tsubasa: Those With Wings is an excellent example. See-through paper, a misplaced page, inconsistent spelling of character names and locations (both between volumes and within the same volume), dialog bubbles spoken by incorrect characters, poor sentence structure. These are not 1,000 page novels here. Is it too much to ask for some simple proof reading? My eyes catch every mistake, and every mistake breaks the flow of the story - every poorly structured sentence that I have to re-write in my head, and every incorrect bubble that I have to study in confusion to figure out which character the dialog actually belongs to. A few is acceptable, and even expected. When it's all over every volume you publish, that's a problem.

~ Your Frustrated Consumers

Oh yeah, in other news, Disney has purchased Marvel Comics. I haven't decided how I feel about this yet. The "thing" to say right now is "Oh, there will be Marvel characters in the next Kingdom Hearts!" But...I don't really want that, to be honest. Hopefully the only thing they'll bother to do with the company is fire Joey Q, and then keep their mitts off everything else.

Gokusen Live Action

2009-08-24T12:37:00.000-05:00

Time for some J-Drama! My previous J-drama watching experiences have been few (alright, only two others - Nodame Cantabile and Zettai Kareshi), but they're well worth looking into. This time it's the Gokusen live action series. Given the nature of these things, there's really only a couple of ways to view them. You can import the DVDs, torrent the episodes from fansubbers, or (if you're, or rather, I suppose, the show, very lucky) watch them on a streaming site like Crunchyroll.com (where they are not hosted), or here, where I did find them.

I was able to watch all three seasons and the season 3 special via torrent, though they did not have the season 1 graduation special (the linked streaming site does, and I'll watch it later). Nor have I seen the new movie that came out this summer (it's not out on DVD just yet). As I reviewed the anime version of this just last week, please refer to that review for a basic summary. The live action has the same basic story. The only major difference is that while the anime (and manga) follow a single class, the live action show follows a different class at a different school each season.

The adorable and talented Yukie Nakama is spot on as Kumiko "Yankumi" in each season. A young veteran actress who also stared in the Basilisk live action film (called Shinobi: Heart Under Blade...it seems I didn't review it when I saw it, but Jay-san talked about it in one of his posts). The hilarious Namase Katsuhisa plays the head teacher/vice principal in all three seasons as well, and he and Yukie-san play great off each other. It's easy to tell he's a natural comedic actor. Several of the actors in the series have been together before in other shows, including Zettai Kareshi, Trick, Kamen Rider, and Boys Over Flowers. Several of the lead male students are also members of music groups.

The only recurring characters are Kumiko (obviously), the yakuza gang members (her grandfather and the four live-in members, like Tetsu and Minoru), the head teacher/VP, the coach from the second season (he also teaches in season 3), and Kuma from the season 1 class (who makes a surprisingly large number of appearances in seasons 2 and 3). She goes to a new school each season (about 7-8 years of time within the story pass within the three of them), with a whole new class, new teachers, and a new love interest (it's Shinohara as a detective in S1, a neighboring teacher in S2, and a doctor in S3).

It's very well done, and the comedy is excellent. One of my favorite bits is how Yankumi just sort of appears randomly in the middle of her students, while they're having a discussion. They hear her voice out of nowhere, and she's just THERE all of a sudden, and it's hilarious. Yankumi's total disregard for any male other than the one she's in love with is highly amusing as well, especially when she ignores the coach's obvious advances in seasons 2 and 3.

I only had one real issue with the first season. They're always zooming in on Shin's face for reactions, but he's always got the same damn look on his face, so I'm not sure why they bother. He's only got 3 real expressions - bored, amused but still bored, and angry in a bored sort of way. It's hard to know what he's supposed to be thinking, though I guess if you want to explain it away technically, part of his character is that people never know what's he's thinking.

I didn't like the third season as much as the others. The characters were not as interesting (or as cute!), and the formula was starting to get a little dull. What I mean by that is, basically the same thing happens in every single episode (in all 3 seasons). They just change some characters around. Yankumi goes to school, one or more students is having some kind of personal problem, Yankumi tries to figure it out, the student or students in question get into some form of trouble, Yankumi has to go to the school or police station to straighten it out, student(s) mouths off, Yankumi talks with her grandfather for advice, the shit hits the fan, the boys get into a fight and get their asses kicked, Yankumi shows up to rescue them, everyone learns a lesson. That's the basic plot of every single episode. As amusing as some of the situations can be, I just don't think it holds for 3 seasons. If you don't mind formulaic stuff like that, or if you're a Bernard Cornwell fan, then this should be fine for you. But I'm not much of a fan of sitting through the same story over and over again. Fortunately the comedy remains consistent and funny.

I was also a little bothered in the third season by how no one really bothered to find out why Yankumi was the way she is. In the first two seasons the kids find out pretty early on that she's yakuza; either by complete accident, or because they're actively trying to find out. And eventually EVERYONE finds out and Yankumi has to resign (again, same basic story element in seasons 1 and 2). But in season 3, they don't really seem to care. They make one early comment about her strength, then they let it drop for most of the season, but attempt to find out about it near the end (kind of randomly). The main boys find out, and then it's never mentioned again. I know I was just complaining about how formulaic everything is, but if you're going to do it, then do it all the way. Deal with her identity completely, or just don't bother.

The show is great fun, Yukie-san is fantastic, and most of the time the students are great as well. Finding a large group of talented young men who have such great chemistry together can't be easy. There is one final thing I was curious about; in each season the classroom and the desks have different designs (like graffiti, etc). I wondered if a production crew did this, or if the actors got to customize their own desks and room, to give it their own personality (or what they felt was the personality of their character). I'm not sure how one would go about finding that out, but if anyone knows, that would be some interesting trivia.

Members of the season 1 cast above.

Gokusen

2009-08-15T15:53:00.002-05:00

This is really a delightful little show. And at just 13 episodes (on 3 discs), it doesn't require a huge investment of time. It's silly, cute, charming and hilarious. For some reason I seem to have a sort of romantic fascination with the yakuza (thanks to Yoshiki Nakamura's Tokyo Crazy Paradise), so I may be a little biased toward a show like this. I should note now that the show does contain some language, and that tends to turn some people off. But it is about the yakuza after all, so what did you expect?

Well, alright, it's not strictly about the yakuza. Gokusen (based on the manga by Kozueko Morimoto) follows 23-year-old Oedo clan heir, granddaughter of the current Kumicho, Kumiko Yamaguchi. Her dream in life is to become a teacher, so with her grandfather's blessing, Kumiko heads off to Shirokin High School to teach her very first students - the troubled delinquent outcasts of class 3-D. Though her desire is to become a teacher and not the clan heir, and she hides her family from the school, her previous life has made her remarkably well prepared for dealing with such a class. Fortunately her students aren't as bad as their reputation. Though they talk and act tough, deep down they're caring and loyal. Unfortunately, they don't trust adults, especially teachers. So Kumiko must prove to them that she truly cares for the well being of each of her students, a challenge her background has made her apt for. It's especially challenging when vice principal Sawatari is doing everything in his power to to find a way to shut down the school.

The show focuses not only on Yankumi (the nickname given her by her class), but the students themselves. A core group of them in particular - quiet and cool Shin, quick to fight Minami, purple haired Uchiyama, large and tough Kumai, and Noda. Kumiko is seen most often pulling them out of trouble and teaching them various lessons. Though poor Shin, who develops a very cute little crush on Kumiko, is always being rescued by her, even when he tries to be the hero instead. Off to the side is Kumiko's yakuza family - Kumiko's grandfather Kuroda (the Kumicho), tough-looking Kyo, the enthusiastic Minoru and Tetsu, Kumiko's dog Fuji (who will sometimes provide a sort of narration for the series), and the family's lawyer Shinohara (who Kumiko has a crush on).

I really loved Kumiko's yakuza group. Tetsu and Minoru are great comedic relief, and their devotion to Kumiko is hilarious and sweet (as is Kyo's). I also thought it was great that Kumiko's students sort of become her own mini-yakuza group. The best parts of the show of course are the moments when Kumiko gets really fired up about something and forgets herself, slipping into gangster speak or becoming violent, right in front of everybody. And then does a complete 180, returning to her sweet and cheerful self like it never happened in an attempt to cover up her actions.

There's a 3 season Japanese live action drama to amuse yourself with as well, although only the first season focuses on the students from the manga/anime, and she gets a whole new class after that. There was also a theatrical LA movie that came out this July. I currently have plans to talk about the drama at a later date, when/if I get around to the second and third seasons (I recently completed the first, but as the other two are about different students, I don't have much interest at the moment).

Media Blasters released the Gokusen anime on DVD in America. Extras included clean credits and English voice actor outtakes. I watched the show in English (I think I watched 1 episode in Japanese, for comparison), and was pleased with the dubbing (though there's nothing wrong with the Japanese dub either).

In other news, FUNimation is releasing the live action Mushi-Shi on DVD at the end of the month! Hooray! I was so disappointed I couldn't go see it at the film festival last month, and thought I'd never get to see it. So thank you FUNi!

Bikes, Cakes and Promises

2009-08-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

A live action trio of films is what we'll be looking at this week. First is Kamikaze Girls, a live action film based on the light novel of the same name by Novala Takemoto. Then we'll go to Korea to look at the Korean film version of the manga Antique Bakery (by Fumi Yoshinaga). And lastly, a Chinese Chen Kaige film called The Promise (Wu ji).

Kamikaze Girls:

We'll start with this absolutely delightful story of the friendship between two unlikely teenage girls. The film reminded me a lot of Amelie in terms of style, and if you've seen this amazing French film, you'll understand what I mean. Momoko is an anti-social young girl obsessed with 18th century France, wishing she had been born in the Rococo-era instead of modern day Japan. Her love for the period has resulted in a deep love for Lolita fashion, and actress Kyoko Fukada is adorable in the doll-like outfits that she wears throughout the film. Ichigo, played by the excellent Anna Tsuchiya, is the complete opposite of her frilly dressed counter-part - a bōsōzoku, a yanki in a female motorcycle gang (although Ichigo herself rides a customized Honda Lead scooter). The two meet when Momoko attempts to sell her father's left over knock off clothing (from his time as a low-class gangster) to help support her Lolita clothing purchases, and Ichigo shows up to buy a jacket. Both girls are taken by each others eccentricities, and loner Momoko is dragged into a friendship by Ichigo's incessant appearances and outlandish attitude. The movie is great fun, and is a wonderful example of the deep friendship that can be formed between girls, even girls as inherently different as Momoko and Ichigo. It's hilarious, charming, and has just the right mix of bright cheer and morbidity. The film is available with sub titles from Viz Media in America.

Antique Bakery:

I talked about the anime version of this manga last year, and this Korean version keeps the main story points, but changes the location (to Korea), and the names of the characters (to Korean names). As I only reviewed the first episode before, here's a bit more on what the story is about (with new character names). Kim Jin Hyeok (Tachibana) opens up a fancy cake shop for mysterious reasons of his own, considering he hates eating sweets. He hires Min Seon Woo (Ono), an excellent, and gay, pastry chef, who also happens to be an old classmate of Jin Hyeok's. Seon Woo, known as the gay of Demonic Charm, has been fired from all his previous jobs for causing romantic arguments with his fellow employees. Soon they hire a promising young man named Yang Ki Beom (Eiji), a former champion boxer who can no longer fight due to a serious injury. To complete the group, Jin Hyeok's klutzy childhood friend and bodyguard Nam Soo Yeong (Chikage) arrives to help watch over his master and work in the cafe. The film hits the major story points, though Ki Beom is often pushed aside as a minor character while the film focuses on Jin Hyeok and Seon Woo. It's well acted (with at least one completely gorgeous guy) and well made, with the exception of an early opening musical sequence that is bizarre and seems out of place. Also, near the end, the story becomes a little confusing regarding a character from Jin Hyeok's past; I wasn't sure if I was watching two different characters with similar looking actors, or the same character which would make things a bit off. The movie (for the sake of time) cuts out a chunk of the story where the characters attempt to garner publicity for their shop, and other than the aforementioned confusing character and cutting off some of Ki Beom's development, it's the same boy's love story that you'll get from the anime and manga.

The Promise:

I was less pleased with The Promise. The story had a lot of potential, but it fell a little flat for me. I do wonder though if this had to do with the fact that the American release of the film had 25 minutes edited out of it for some reason. In The Promise a little girl named Qingcheng survives by stealing off the bodies of corpses in a battle field. She is caught by a boy of about the same age who accuses her of stealing, and makes her promise to be his slave before releasing her. However after she is released, she hits him on the head and runs away. While crossing across some water, she meets the goddess Manshen, who offers her a deal - she will never again starve, she will wear the most beautiful clothing and eat the best food, and countless men will fall in love with her...but she will never experience true love herself, for if she finds it, she will lose it. Qingcheng agrees, and the goddess informs her that this agreement cannot be broken until snow falls in the summer and time flows backward. Many years later a battle rages between the armies led by General Guangming and Duke Wuhuan. Qingcheng, now grown, is swept up in a war between the Duke and her King's men (which the General leads), as is the mysterious servant of the General, Kunlun. The past comes back to haunt them, as the mysteries of the people from the Land of Snow are revealed, and the goddess Manshen's prophecies start coming true. This is a story of love, sacrifice, mistaken identity, loyalty and betrayal. It sounds like an excellent set up for an incredible film, but it just isn't as good as one would hope. For a film from 2005, the special effects are a bit substandard in quality. Something as simple as falling cherry blossoms look incredibly rendered, never mind the super fast running Kunlun. Fortunately the amazing costumes and combat that we've come to expect from these kinds of films are there and look great. In the end, I still think it was an interesting story that was underdeveloped (or edited out, possibly); but at least the acting (Dong-gun Jang, the beautiful Cecilia Cheung, and the very handsome and talented Nicholas Tse) is great.

K-ON

2009-08-01T14:13:00.000-05:00

K-On! is a simple, 12 episode (with a special) high school girls anime from Kyoto Animation (AIR, Lucky Star, Haruhi). A lot of people raved about this show, and it is a cute little thing, but there are other things to spend your time on. It is VERY cute, charming, and funny. I think it's a fantastic show for girls, and for guys who like this sort of show (like Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, Sasami Magical Girls Club). There's nary a boy to be seen in this one; it's pretty much all girls, all the time. But don't expect a lot of fan service. There's some (the girls dress up in costumes on a couple occasions, and go to the beach twice), but it's not cluttered with pantie shots and the like (though there is the rare camera focusing on a boob shot of the more well-endowed characters). It's good, clean fun for the most part.

K-On! follows four (and later 5 with freshman Azusa) high school girls who form a Light Music Club at their school. The club is started by bass player Mio and drummer Ritsu, and keyboardist Tsumugi (Mugi) joins soon after. Desperately in search of another member, or else their club will be disbanded, the group eagerly welcomes straggler (and often times slacker) Yui into their fold, not knowing that she can't actually play any instruments. Miraculously Yui is rather adept at guitar, and the group bands together to find her her own instrument, and teach her how to play.

The show is less about the music and the band than it is about the girls' friendships, so don't watch it expecting Beck Mongolian Chop Squad for girls. There's no mysterious story here (like Haruhi), no romance (like AIR), no otaku humor (like Lucky Star). It's just a group of cute and rather silly girls goofing off, having tea and cakes, and occasionally playing some music. So, it's more like Azumanga Daioh with guitars. There's even a fantastically entertaining teacher who becomes their club advisor.

A lot of people seemed to have compared the show to Lucky Star, and for good reason, though I personally likened it more to Azumanga Daioh (with guitars, complete with a girl who likes cats, a rich smart girl, a loud tom boy, and a goofy teacher). Although, when I saw Lucky Star, my first impression was "Oh, it's like AD," so.... Take that how you will, I guess.

The show is well animated (wouldn't expect anything less from KyoAni), and the girls are irresistibly adorable (especially Mio and Mugi), though somewhat archetypal/cliche. I wouldn't rush out to watch it, but I wouldn't disregard it either. Jay-san has some good images/wallpapers from the show over in his K-ON post. The title of the show comes from the name of their club, the Light Music Club (which is more like light pop, not orchestrations).

Flowers of Evil

2009-07-26T10:34:00.004-05:00

Flowers of Evil is a 7 volume manhwa from Korea. The most important thing to note about this series is that it features twin incest (twincest). So decide right now how much that bothers you before continuing.

Can you stomach it? I'm not asking if you like it, or agree with it, or think it's disgusting. It's central to the story, but that's not all that's there. And I'm talking incest like Angel Sanctuary, not Ouran High School Host Club. Can you push past that and just look at the story as a whole? If your answer is either "Yes, I can put up with it," or "Yes, I enjoy it," then continue reading. If not, then this is not going to be for you, end of story. See you next time.

Now let's get started.
This 7- volume manhwa by Lee Hyeon-Sook is pretty dark and twisted. Twins Se-Joon and Se-Wa are extremely close. For most of her life, Se-Wa has had no one but Se-Joon there for her, he's been her only friend, and he has spoiled and protected her all her life. As a result of their closeness, her preference of shutting herself away from all others, and the naivety that has developed as a result, Se-Wa cannot distinguish between sibling love and romantic love. She doesn't really understand what "love" means, and so she has fallen in love with her brother. Se-Wa thinks this is perfectly natural, but Se-Joon seems to have more mixed feelings. Se-Wa throws herself at him at every given opportunity, crawling into bed with him at night, hanging on him, and becomes exceedingly jealous as an upperclassman tries to date her brother. Se-Joon allows Se-Wa to do these things, but often doesn't instigate them himself, and is even a little embarrassed about it all. Where Se-Wa believe it's innocent and natural, Se-Joon seems to realize it isn't. He tries to push his sister away by dating another girl, and shoving the relationship in Se-Wa's face. This in turn drives Se-Wa toward a new man, a classmate from their old elementary school, Gi-Hoon. A move which doesn't thrill Se-Joon like it should.

The problem is that at the same time Se-Joon tries to push Se-Wa away, he's also doing things to drag her back in again. Even if she wanted to, he makes it near impossible for her to separate herself from him. He messes with her head on purpose, and it's driving her insane. It doesn't help that Gi-Hoon appears to have some secret, ulterior motives for befriending the twins once again (he hasn't seen or talked to them in years), and his true feelings remain unclear for most of the story. It's worth noting that nothing in this manhwa is really as it appears. The story is well-written, if a little confusing at times (the pacing of the few Korean books (and by few, I mean like, 3 or 4) I've read has always felt a little off to me, in terms of pacing and frame staging). It's good at keeping the suspense going, and at keeping you totally fooled up until the very end. It's also very sad, because the relationship between the twins is just so warped and troubling, and you desperately want for them (Se-Wa in particular) to grow and change on their own. So if you don't mind the incest themes (or actual acts of), the story there is touching, heartbreaking, and bittersweet.

The fact that the title for the story comes from Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal is not a nonsensical connection. Currently this has no English version, so if you're interested, you're going to have to dig it up online. The art is decent, but I've seen better; though these Korean artists really have a different artistic feel than their Japanese counterparts, which is nice. Good facial expressions for the most part. I should also note, that while this story does contain incest, it's not glorified in any way. These kids live a messed up life, and it doesn't end pretty.

Texhnolyze

2009-07-18T09:00:00.004-05:00

I took notes for this one, but there's no telling if I'll be able to make sense of them. From the first episode I got the feeling I should take some sort of notes, otherwise when I went to review it, I wouldn't remember anything. Texhnolyze is one of those weird shows where the story is just all over the place. It's created by Chiaki J. Konaka and Yoshitoshi ABe (both from Serial Experiments Lain), so that should give you some ideas.

Texhnolyze (which can be pronounced Tech-no-lyze) follows Ichise, a prize fighter who loses an arm and a leg and gets texhnolyzed limbs (a sort of robotic prosthetic with a bit of a will of its own) to replace them. There's also a young girl named Ran who sees the future, a mysterious man named Yoshii sowing chaos within the city of Lux, Onishi the leader of the Organo group, Shinji the young leader of the Racan gang, and Doc the texhnolyze specialist (she is a serious FREAK; she gets off on installing and working on texhnolyze limbs). Onishi's Organo group, Shinji's Racan gang, and another more mysterious group called the Union, all fight for power in the city of Lux. They manage to maintain a delicate balance for the most part, Onishi's negotiating skills preventing a city wide war. After being texhnolyzed against his will, Ichise wanders aimlessly, interacting (mostly by accident) with the groups, until all hell breaks loose and he finds himself working for the Organo. When a mysterious man arrives in Lux looking to to rule the entire city, battle lines are drawn, and it's all Ichise can do to stay alive and protect those he cares about (Onishi and Ran specifically).

The first episode of the series consists of a boxing match, a shoot out, slicing off of limbs, a girl in a fox mask, and about 10 lines of dialog. The rest of the series is pretty light on dialog as well (though with considerably more than 10 lines of dialog), and with both dubbings standing about equal, it's down to your personal preferences of reading subtitles or listening in English. It's also accompanied by some fantastic music and the excellent use of sound effects.

Basically, if you've seen your 10th super moe school girl show of the year, then maybe it's time for something like Texhnolyze. I'd like to tell you that it's as much of a mind fuck as Serial Experiments Lain, but the story is pretty straight forward. There's some psychobabble nonsense around episode 10, and a lot of techno babble in the later half of the series, plus lots of stuff about destiny, human nature, and the heartbeat and will of a living city. But really, I got the impression several times that it was just being weird for the sake of being weird. Or maybe I just didn't "get" it. Visually it's excellent, and the show's presentation fits the tone very well, but it can sometimes overshadow the plot. And frankly, by the end, the show doesn't make any sense what-so-ever.

As main characters go, Ichise is a little plain. It takes 12 episodes before we start to find out anything about him. For the most part he just sort of goes with the flow of things, without making many of his own decisions, doing whatever he's told, and not showing just a whole lot of individuality besides a short temper, a lot of apathy, and a violent streak. Ran has a mostly visual presence, without many lines, though frankly I was a little unsure of her role. She's a seer, worshiped by the people of Gabe, but she's always wandering around Lux on her own. She claims to only see one of many possible futures, and it's mentioned several times in the show that she only sees one possibility. Yet somewhere down the line, her visions are taken as laws not to be broken, which is rather contradictory. Onishi however is pretty cool, and he's at the center of the story as much as Ichise is.

It is a really interesting show, and it's very well made (it's from Madhouse, and they do good work), though I think it tries to be too many things at once. It's just a little hard to follow, and not well explained. There are 22 episodes on 6 discs from Geneon. DVD extras include clean credits (and the ending from the final episode has some beautiful music, not to mention the excellent opening for the series), interviews with the creators, and alternate dialog outtakes (ie: English VAs goofing off).

Captive Hearts

2009-07-11T18:06:00.008-05:00

Attention, Attention: This is a manga review.
Moving on....

I just spent several hours over the past couple days going through old picture CDs and my HS SR year memory book. I posted up about 70 photos from when my friends and I were in elementary and on through HS (and a tiny bit after). Several have already seen them, and we all had a good time reminiscing about "The Good Old Days." Most of my pictures contain the same 5-6 people over and over again (my closest friends through all my primary schooling), including a very good friend of ours who died a couple of years ago. So it was sort of a testament to him, as well. He's in 19 of the 70 pictures (and just off to the side in a few others). I know I enjoyed seeing his smile again, and it seems the others did too. We miss you, Nick.

Now that I've depressed everyone, lets get on to the review. I haven't looked at manga very much on here. Then again, most manga run on for years and years, so they're a little harder to review as a whole (as opposed to individual volumes, and if you thought my anime review backlog was bad, well...It would not be a good idea for me to start reviewing single manga volumes). Captive Hearts only ran 5 volumes though, and it's final volume came out just last week.

Captive Hearts is the first serialized manga from Matsuri Hino (Vampire Knight, Wanted, MeruPuri), published in America by Viz Media's Shojo Beat line. For those of you who have never read Hino-san's books, she has a talent for writing some seriously silly and ridiculous story lines. Her most recent, Vampire Knight, is about a private school attended by humans during the day, and vampires at night. Wanted is a one-shot about pirates. And MeruPuri is a story about a 12-year-old prince who ages 5 years whenever he is in the dark. I've read all of them (well, I'm reading VK since it's ongoing), and they're all equally silly. Vampire Knight is a bit of an exception, because it's Hino-san's first attempt at a more serious, dramatic story, but she still sneaks some very silly elements in there.

20-year-old university student Megumi Kuroishi has been living a life of luxury in the mansion that once belonged to his father's master and mistress (Yoshimi Kuroishi is a butler at the mansion), the Kogami family. 14 years ago the Kogami family traveled to China and disappeared. It was eventually determined that the family died of an illness in China, and the Kogamis left the mansion to their devoted butler and his family. Megumi is living his carefree life until one day, the young daughter of the Kogami family, Suzuka (now 17), suddenly returns home. The moment their eyes meet, Megumi is stricken with an intense desire to serve Suzuka and becomes entirely devoted to his "Princess." Unknown to Megumi, who had lived most of his life without the Kogami family around, the Kuroishi family is under a 100-generation curse to serve the Kogami family, body and soul. And since Megumi hasn't been exposed to the curse in many years, he is extremely sensitive to it and frequently launches into over-the-top man servant fits whenever his and Suzuka's eyes meet.

Somewhere along the way, Suzuka and Megumi fall in love, although it is unclear to Megumi if the feelings he feels are his own or from the curse. Seeing how tortured this makes Megumi (not to mention how troublesome the whole mess is), Suzuka vows to find a way to break the curse and free the Kuroishi family forever.

Things get truly ridiculous in this story. Even Hino-san makes mention of how extreme it can be, with side-bar comments like "is it really OK for me to write something this silly?" (That's not an exact quote; I couldn't find it again, but she says similar things several times in her columns.) I'm not sure if she's making excuses, or just making sure that people understand it's not meant to be taken seriously (it's not, by the way). Basically Megumi's "man servant fits" are off the deep end. When his eyes meet unexpectedly with Suzuka's, he transforms into a doting, devoted servant, willing to do anything at all for her; he sparkles, calls her princess, and gushes over her. He's always protective of her, and takes care of her, but the fits take it to an extreme, and they happen a lot.

A nice break from all the silliness is Suzuka's tragic, troubled back story. The story of the curse's origins (in the 3rd volume) is also a nice break and is rather more serious than its later effects on Megumi. A couple of the volumes also have some unrelated one-shot stories that Hino-san wrote for various things, all romance stories of course (some are very sweet, others are so-so). Captive Hearts is, after all, a romance, with a lot of comedy thrown in. If you can get past how ridiculous it is, the story is actually decent, and Megumi and Suzuka's relationship is very sweet. It's not great. The art is OK; it's clear this is an early work, but it shows a lot of potential (and indeed she has improved a great deal). Sometimes there are continuity issues, or panels are misdrawn. It's an average manga, but it's short, so it won't take a large time or monetary investment if it interests you.

Midori Days

2009-07-05T13:07:00.003-05:00

I had been putting off watching this one for a while, worried that it would be just too bizarre, maybe a little stupid, and that I wouldn't like it. Well, it WAS bizarre, but it was also rather sweet and very funny. When you see something about Midori Days, you'll notice that it's about a high school boy who has a tiny girl for a hand. That is the driving force of the show. And, of course, I immediately thought, "How idiotic." And, you know, it kind of was. But the story is touching, in its way, and while nothing changes the fact that this adolescent boy is living his life with a real girl as one of his hands, if you just sort of ignore the absurdity of this, it's a very cute show.

The anime is based on an 8 volume manga series of the same name (which I hear wraps up the story a bit better than the anime does; it's the same, but it's handled better). Viz has licensed the manga in America. The anime is a short 13 episodes (which is good for having only 8 volumes of manga to follow), and is licensed by Media Blasters in the States.

In Midori Days, we watch the life of Seiji Sawamura, a high school student who is a bit of a delinquent. He's the toughest kid at school and gets into a lot of fights, but he doesn't bully the weaker students; rather he stands up for them against others. His right hand has been dubbed the Devil's Right Hand, and it packs a powerful punch. At seventeen years old, Seiji is longing for a girlfriend badly, but most are too intimidated by him, and he's not exactly the most socially able person around. In a moment of desperation, he announces out loud to himself that he will take any girl as long as he can have a girlfriend. When he wakes up the next morning, his desire has been (sort of) granted - a high school student named Midori Kasugano, who has been admiring and loving Seiji from afar (she goes to a different school that he does) has replaced his Devil's Right Hand.

At that point, just throw all notions of reality out the window and you'll enjoy the show. Midori eats, sleeps, moves and even gets sick, all independent of Seiji. Which doesn't make a lot of sense, nor is it ever explained in any way. But that's OK. Midori is so adorable you'll forget all about it. She is head over heels in love with Seiji, who unfortunately barely notices her, even though she's on his hand and with him 24/7. He still tries to find a girlfriend, even though he's got Midori, who cooks, cleans, takes notes for him in class, and does everything she can possibly do for him with her small body. Except, you know, those things. The show thankfully manages to avoid any sort of sexual adventures that this situation would be ideal for. There's some nudity and ecchi-ness, fan service (like when Seiji goes to a figure costume shop to find clothes for Midori), the kinds of things normal for this sort of show. But Midori is very shy and innocent, and aside from an initial peek when she first appears (as she's nude when she first appears on his hand), she makes sure Seiji doesn't see her naked, and assumably they find ways she doesn't have to see him naked either (at least not from the front). It could very easily turn into quite a raunchy series, but it doesn't. It's a sweet romantic comedy, as Midori showers Seiji with her love, and does her best to earn his love in return (which is quite a feat, as dense as Seiji is).

There's not much more I can say without giving away bigger plot points, so I'll leave it at that. You either want to watch a show like this, or you don't. Personally, I found it very charming, and I'm glad I decided not to ignore it.

Gunbuster

2009-06-28T15:01:00.002-05:00

First a moment of remembrance: Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays all left this world this past week (Fawcett and Jackson on the same day, even). A sad time for television and music lovers...or, well, everyone really. Please, no more! :(

Today it's two in one. Gainax's Gunbuster and Diebuster (or Gunbuster 2).

You'd hardly know the shows were meant to accompany each other at first glance. The original is serious and emotional (if cheesy and a little campy at times), but the second series is far more comedic and pretty perverted. The first is very old school, the second looks a lot like FLCL and Eureka Seven in terms of style and design. They're entirely different creatures. About the only things tying them together are the Buster music theme, the giant robots, and their fight against the space monsters. Though once you get to the ending of GB2, the two series are finally tied together, and quite nicely. There are some nice throwbacks to the original series throughout the show (and some clear inspirations from both Evangelion and FLCL), but they're far more in your face and obvious during the last episode. At that point you're left going "Ooooh sweet! Now it feels like Gunbuster all over again." They're definitely meant to be watched together. They did make "movie" versions of both, but all they really are is shortened versions of each series. And at just 6 episodes each, cutting them down cuts too much out (leaving out important things like, oh I don't know, character development).

They pack an awful lot into each series' 6 episodes, though I really think the original GB has more character development than DB. The story also flows better (though it's not any less confusing). In DB there are several time jumps that suddenly bring the characters into different situations without much explanation.

Gunbuster follows the journey of Noriko Takaya and Kazumi Amano, two Buster pilots trained under the watchful and caring eye of Coach Koichiro Ohta. Kazumi is the star pilot, Noriko is, well...clumsy is a decent term. Yet it is the two of them that are picked by Coach Ohta to leave their training school (they're high school aged) and join the Exelion crew in space to fight the space monsters. The two of them (and Noriko specifically) are being groomed to pilot the advanced Buster machine known as Gunbuster (a combined, two person super robot). Kazumi is out to prove herself, Noriko is out both to prove herself and to get revenge for the death of her father (a ship captain killed several years ago by space monsters; Coach Ohta is the only surviving member of that crew), and Ohta is out to groom them to save the human race. Like any anime directed by Hideaki Anno, the characters of Gunbuster are tortured and must overcome their self-doubt in order to save their friends. The show is good, if a little cheesy (it's from 1988), drawn well, written well, and put together well. The final episode is in black and white for some reason, with some stock and static images, so I was left wondering if they ran out of money or time at that point, or if it was a style choice.

There's a lot of "we're traveling at light speed so the people on Earth will age X amount of time while we're in LS," which has always bothered me. It's not something I understand. I mean, you're just going really really fast though basic space. So I don't understand how that makes you jump forward in time. I mean, if I'm in a car going 70 miles an hour, and someone is walking to the same destination at 3 miles an hour, I'll get there first, but the same amount of real time would have passed for both of us. Or is it just the fact that they're traveling at LS that does it? Science just doesn't agree with my brain, I guess.

In Diebuster (GB2) there's a whole new set of characters. The story takes place thousands of years later. A robotic girl named Nono, obsessed with becoming a Buster pilot, runs away from home and eventually comes across a Topless named Lal'C. Though unable to pilot a Buster because she is not a Topless (she can't be, as she's a robot), Nono follows Lal'C and becomes a member of the Fraternity - a group of teenage Topless who pilot Buster machines and their backup members and crew. The group fights off the space monsters, working to uncover exactly why they exist and what their true purpose in the universe is as the human race once again faces extinction. It's hard to describe what a "Topless" is exactly. It seems to be influenced by FLCL, in that their powers emanate from their foreheads. It's some sort of psychic energy, I think, that allows them to control a Buster machine until their expiration date (when their powers cease functioning all together). Nono takes it very literally in one episode, thinking that it means she has to BE topless, and removes her shirt to fight. Unlike their Gunbuster counterparts, the Buster machines in DB are more than mere robots - they are sentient beings that occasionally disobey the orders of their pilots, and only awaken to pilots whom are ready.

When you know that Hideaki Anno (director of Evangelion) directed Gunbuster and Kazuya Tsurumaki (assistant director for Evangelion, director of FLCL, director of the recent Evangelion film remakes) directed Diebuster, the inspirations and references are obvious. Gunbuster came 7 years before Eva, but you can see some of the ideas for the popular show already beginning to form. And the FLCL style is all over Diebuster.

Both series come on 3 discs, and neither of them have English voice overs, so be ready to read the subtitles. 6 episodes on 3 discs is less of a problem for the original series than the more recent one. If that's they way there were broken apart on the original VHS, I can see how it would be easier to just leave them that way. But there's little excuse for a show from 2004/06 to come that way (unless it's some sort of legal or marketing issue). Both are licensed by Bandai in the US. Diebuster also has a manga, though it's currently only available in Japan. DVD extras included for the original GB: interviews with cast and crew, promotional animations, and Science Lessons (a series of short omake that discuss the science and mythology of the series). The DB DVDs also had some interviews with the show creators and a trailer for the movies.

Well, I'll be watching Texhnolyze next. Hopefully I can get through that before I have to go on vacation. I also recently ordered the second half of Black Lagoon and also AIR TV, so I may review those in the coming weeks.

Image: (Left) Gunbuster, Coach Ohta, Kazumi, (Center) Noriko, Nono, (Right) Dix-Neuf, Lal'C and Tycho.

Mushi-Shi

2009-06-19T18:13:00.006-05:00

The cure lies in the curse.

If you like shows like Kino's Journey, Haibane Renmei or
Natsume Yuujin-Chou, then you'll probably enjoy Mushi-Shi (also spelled Mushishi interchangeably, so I'm not sure which is exactly accurate). Much like Kino's Journey, Mushi-Shi follows a lone traveller from place to place as he interacts with various people of different beliefs and backgrounds. It's a very slow paced (in a good way), gently woven, mysterious and supernatural tale of a Mushi Master (a Mushi-Shi) named Ginko who travels the land studying mushi and helping humans deal with mushi problems. Mushi in this series are supernatural creatures connected with the essence of life. So, they're not exactly ghosts, but they behave like spirits and come in many different forms. Most people cannot see Mushi, but Ginko is even rarer in that he actually attracts them. Because of this he has become a traveling Mushi Master, unable to stay in one place for too long. Most mushi are harmless, but even harmless mushi don't always live in harmony with humans, and some others cause great trouble (and even death). So many people will call upon Ginko to aid them with their mushi troubles, which range from mushi that live in a person's eye, causing them to become extremely sensitive to light; to a fungus that uses a human woman's womb to birth its spores.

Most of the episodes are unrelated to each other, episodic, without an underlying connecting story line (much like Kino's Journey, again). However there are a couple of episodes which explore Ginko's past, explaining his odd white hair, his green eyes (and why he is missing one of them), and how he became a Mushi Master. Occasionally a character will reappear, notably another Mushi Master named Adashino and Nui (who physically only appears in one episode, but narrates many of the others), but other than Ginko, there's typically an entirely new cast of characters in each episode.

Ginko is a rather calm, laid back character. He has a clear passion for learning about mushi, and is one of the rare Mushi Masters who prefers to work with the mushi rather than destroy them. He is constantly seen smoking a special type of cigarette (really I think it's only out of his mouth when he's sleeping) which gives off a special smoke that keeps mushi at bay and helps him control them to an extent. He firmly believes that mushi are not evil, and does his best to help humans live in peace with them. Unfortunately, not everyone always agrees with his methods, and sometimes not even Ginko knows the answers to a problem. Often he is forced to search for an unknown cure through the mushi's curse itself.

The 26-episode series is based on the manga series by Yuki Urushibara, which has been published by Del Rey in America. The anime covers about half of the stories in the manga (up to volume 5 or 6). FUNimation produced the English dubbing of the show, and it's excellent. The lovely Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang, Takashi Morinozuka) voices Ginko, and Jennifer Seman is the voice of Nui and the narrator. The animation for the show is really lovely and sets a great tone for the series (though unfortunately the character designs for all but the "main" cast are rather generic). As does the opening theme (though there isn't much to the animation there) "The Sore Feet Song" sung by Ally Kerr. The endings are different instrumental pieces for each episode.

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

2009-06-15T22:45:00.001-05:00

This one is good, and I mean really good. It's very intense, even for someone who already knows the basic story. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is a pretty famous story, and most people know of it at least in it's simplest form. Basically it keeps the main themes and central plot of the book - and by that I mean, there's a guy named Edmond Dantes out to get his revenge against the people who stole his life away from him. Otherwise it's been anime-fied. The Count is some kind of demon/vampire creature now (the Gankutsuou), and the story is set in the 50th century (in a sort of period future, meaning the clothes and architecture are very 19th-20th century France, but then there are fancy space ships flying around). The story also focuses less on the Count and more on Mercedes' son Albert and his friends. I often judge the value of an anime based on the emotion it elicits from me as a viewer, and I have to admit that the fifth disc of this series (there are 6) had me bawling.

The show is beautiful. On the fifth disc there is an art gallery (and another, different one on the sixth), and you need to look at this. It's a massive collection (perfectly paced with music) of background art, environment art, and paintings. You will never again doubt Gonzo's ability to produce something visually stunning (not that you should have doubted them to begin with, when they've done amazing work on shows like Last Exile, Trinity Blood, Saikano, and Basilisk). It's a very unique style of animation that you don't see very often, and it does take some getting used to. After a couple of episodes you'll just be mesmerized by the beauty, and that'll be that. Admittedly the show has some very bizarre elements near the end (like old fashioned sword duels inside giant mechs). Yet even as you sit there being weirded out by the flying mechs and devouring demon, you're still astounded by how amazing it all looks. You can't help thinking "This is so bad ass."

I think I've already said most of what can be said about the show itself. It's all about love, friendship, justice, revenge, hope. Many of the same themes that are found in Dumas' novel. So here's the plot of Monte Cristo, which is the same in both the novel and the anime. Edmond Dantes is engaged to marry the beautiful Mercedes. Everything is going well with him - he's getting married, he's inheriting his captain's ship, he's successful and people respect him. When his captain died, he gave him a package and a letter to deliver to two people, who unfortunately had ties with the recently exiled Napoleon. Edmond's jealous friend Fernand (a fellow sailor) and the ship's purser Danglars send a letter to the prosecutor Villefort, claiming that Edmond is a traitor. The innocent and naive Edmond quickly becomes a scapegoat (the letter connects Villefort's father with Napoleon) to save Villefort's career, and Edmond is rushed off to prison without trial. When Edmond manages to escape from prison years later, having had ample time to piece together his unfortunate fate, he vows revenge on those who ruined his life, including Mercedes whom he now finds married to Fernand. Fernand, Danglars and Villefort have all become successful and prosperous in his absence, and disguised as the rich Count of Monte Cristo, he sets about to destroying their lives as they destroyed his. In the book, he meets a man in prison who directs him to a great treasure which he finds after his escape; in the anime he makes a pact with the demon Gankutsuou, though the exact methods of amassing his fortune from nothing aren't really explained.

The book focuses on Edmond himself, but, as I mentioned, the anime focuses on Mercedes' son Albert and Albert's circle of friends. Still it follows the main plot fairly closely; almost all of the major events occur, though usually with a certain flair particular to this retelling's setting and style, and with the emphasis on Albert's development and relationship with his friend Franz, his fiancee Eugenie (a relationship vastly different from that in the book), his mother, and the Count. The ending is also changed quite a bit, but it's powerful, and it wraps everything up very nicely. So yes, it's The Count of Monte Cristo, and while the Count and his revenge is the impetus for the story, he mostly exists to drive Albert and force the young man to mature and awaken from his naivety. So it's also very much a coming-of-age story.

The music in the show is pretty good. The intro is "We Were Lovers," written and sung by Jean-Jacques Burnel. The music and lyrics are wonderful (and the tune is used several times within the show); the vocals...he's kind of all over the place, it takes some getting used to. But it's such a beautiful song, and the animation to go along with it is lovely as well. The end is another by Burnel, "You Won't See Me Coming." Also a stellar use of "Il dolce suono" from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor (the same song is sung by the Diva in the movie The Fifth Element) in the first episode.

The English dubbing is fine. I was only really bothered by the voice for Maximilien Morrel, by Tony Oliver. Yes, Maximilien is a gentle sort of man, but he's also a sailor and a soldier, and the English voice he is given is far too soft. I watched most (probably 90%) of the show in Japanese though. I just liked it more; particularly because Joji Nakata's voice (the Count) is incredibly sexy. And, well, that's important!

This one is definitely worth a watch. It was originally released by Geneon on 6 DVDs, but FUNimation has since acquired the license to the series (like many other Geneon series) and will be re-releasing the series sometime in 2009. The manga is 3 volumes, with the final volume being released by Del Rey in August of this year.

Paradise Kiss

2009-06-08T00:00:00.003-05:00

Before I start to talk about Paradise Kiss: This awesome looking game will be coming to America this winter. Hooray! It's Namco/Bandai and tri-Crescendo's (Eternal Sonata) newest title for the Wii: Fragile. Definitely going to have to dust off the Wii for this one.

Jay, over at Toybox, keeps a running tally of all the anime he watches each year. I recently started keeping a list of the novels I read per year (so I can look at it later and scold myself for slacking off), and decided an anime list wouldn't hurt, so I could remember what I've seen. I don't know how accurate my current tally is, but I know the ones on there are shows that I've completed this year, at the very least. I count 24 (which includes a couple films, and a couple of re-watches). Which I think makes me about even with him, actually. :) Working on 25 and 26 right now (Skip Beat! and Gankutsuou). You may notice that there are not 24 corresponding reviews this year. That's because I'm slacking off with the writing...which I really shouldn't be doing (because I'll forget what I thought of the series). I'm going to have to work on this.

Now on to the review!

Paradise Kiss is a sweet romantic comedy (with lots of drama) based on the 5 volume manga series by Ai Yazawa (NANA). Now as the manga was so short, I managed to read it while I was waiting on the 3 DVDs to arrive in the mail, so I may be talking about them intermittently through this review. They stick pretty close together, with some minor changes; the biggest being a slightly ambiguous and rushed ending to the anime (specifically a very important development scene for Arashi; the series could have benefited from just one more episode really) against a better paced and more definitive manga ending, and also a lack of most of the humor that appears in the manga. The sex is also downplayed a bit in the anime, notably a (very) brief S&M scene between George and Yukari, which is entirely absent (it's not superfluous; it is actually important to George's character). But when you get down to it, if you like the story, you must watch the anime regardless; it's really something to see all the clothes on your screen in full design and color. And the clothes are a major part of Paradise Kiss.

High school student Yukari (nicknamed Caroline by her friends) is walking home from school one day when she is accosted by a scruffy looking boy (with safety pins sticking out of his lip and brow, ouch) who asks her to be a model for a fashion show. Entirely freaked out by his passionate approach she attempts to run away but is stopped by a large woman named Isabella, who kidnaps her and takes her to an underground sewing studio. Here she meets Arashi, Isabella, Miwako and George, a group of fashion design students at a near by vocational school. They want her to model their design for a scholarship contest. Taken aback by their bright personalities, strange clothes, and very different life philosophy, she initially declines the offer. To Yukari, the group is wasting their time, piddling away at a hobby, while she studies hard at a top school, trying to get into a good college to please her uptight mother. What she fails to understand, but quickly learns, is that this group of people is following a dream, working hard to become artists in a competitive field, working toward a goal - something that Yukari herself lacks. Yukari studies and attends a prestigious school simply because her mother wants her to; she has no goals or ambitions of her own. When she accepts their request to model George's dress, her entire life is turned upside down, but she grows and discovers her true self, the Paradise Kiss crew her inspiration. A romantic relationship quickly forms with the bisexual, arrogant, cold (he's totally emotionally warped), and intensely creative George that spins her life even more out of control. Somehow, through everything, she is able to convince George, her mother, and herself that she is capable of being independent, making her own decisions, and building her own life.

The English voice over is alright, though I preferred to watch the show in Japanese. Arashi's English voice was too...effeminate maybe? Isabella's voice, in both the English and the Japanese, was too feminine (it is a girl voicing her both times) for a trannie, post- OR pre-op. The English voice for George makes him sound kind of sleazy. In Japanese he seems colder and a little cruel at times. I like that version better. Even though it really makes me feel that poor Yukari is just being naive, and being strung along by George. But it's not that kind of show. His cold manner helps her grow as an individual. He genuinely does love her, that's very clear; but he is extremely cold toward her and there are many arguments and lots of tears throughout. Somehow the cold and overly critical George is exactly what Yukari needs to propel her forward in her otherwise stagnate life. George loves independent women, but the more independent she becomes the further it takes her from George, and if she tries to return to him, he despises her for it; it's a vicious cycle that remains dominant through the entire series.

[slight spoiler here]
The romantic in me wanted so badly for things to work out between Yukari and George but.... The nature of his personality.... The closer she would try to be become with him, the more he would despise her. He wants her to be independent and take responsibility for herself, which means she can't rely on him in any way, blame him for her problems, or choose him over things in her own life. They wouldn't make each other happy. Because in order for him to love her more, she has to become independent of him. And there's no relationship there.
[end spoiler stuff]

Actually Yuraki reminds me a lot of myself, but she's much stronger than I am. She broke away and excelled; I've sort of regressed. I'm just saying that I identify with the character. Though admittedly, my parents weren't as harsh. Or rather, I don't think I had the opportunity to see that, because I had no trouble keeping my grades up. It came easily, so I don't know how they would have reacted if I had been struggling like Yukari. But I can say that when I said "I want to go to college and study theatre," they were behind me 100% from the beginning. But I'm comparing myself with a fictional character built expressly to tell this kind of story, so reflecting on my life in comparison to hers is a little silly.

The animation style reminds me a lot of Mahou Tsukai...Natsu no Sora. But it's actually written by the woman who wrote the Nana manga. It does have the same director (Osamu Kobayashi), so I suppose it comes from there. Because the elements of comparison don't exist in the manga.

The story reminds me a lot of Banri Hidaka's I Hate You More Than Anyone, but I think Paradise Kiss handles it a bit better. More realistic anyway. Where Yukari pursues a modeling career due to the influence of the ParaKiss crew, the lead character of I Hate You... decides to become a hair dresser like the man who is in love with her because she sees the passion he has in creating something with his own hands (which is also one of the reasons Yukari loves George so much).

Paradise Kiss' 12 episodes are available on 3 discs from Geneon/Funimation, and in a box set. DVD extras include interviews with the Japanese cast and crew (including a wonderful presentation where the actress for Yukari, Yu Yamada, wears the realized design of the ParaKiss dress that her character models in the anime), clean credits (and it has a really rockin' intro), and some small art galleries (notably a collection of designs from a fashion design contest). The manga is available in 5 volumes from Tokyopop. Fox International is also considering a live action film adaptation of the story.

E3 09 Roundup

2009-06-05T15:48:00.004-05:00

Eee, I've been committing to a few too many things lately, so this won't be as elaborate as I had planned.

Aside from the conferences I watched and summarized, there were other behind doors and non-filmed conferences from the likes of Konami, Capcom, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Square-Enix. This is where things like the next console Zelda title were hinted at. Many trailers were premiered this week, a lot of game play was showcased, and many things received greater explanation. So let's take a look at some of the incredible things that came out of E3 this year. You can also see many of these on the console of your choice.

Many of the major announcements (like God of War 3 and Assassin's Creed) I already highlighted in my previous blogs, so this time I'll be looking at everything else. There are plenty I'm ignoring, but I'm trying to point out the big titles (and will certainly be passing over games like Super Star Petz or whatever).

Here's a quick reference to my other E3 posts:
Sony
Nintendo
Ubisoft
EA
Microsoft

Spore Hero for the Wii. An action adventure game with the full creature creator from the PC game to use to make your hero.

Tekken 6. I shouldn't have to say anything else. If you don't already know what that is, then you probably aren't interested.

Arcania. A new take at the Gothic series. PC, 360, PS3.

Mafia 2. PC, 360, PS3

Demon's Souls A gorgeous looking PS3 RPG from SCEA and Atlus, that will hopefully play as well as it looks.

A Boy and His Blob - a new look at a classic game.

Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time for the PS3

White Knight Chronicles - PS3 RPG from SCE; might be worth getting a PS3 for.

Nostalgia - a great looking RPG for the DS from Tecmo

Rogue Warrior - PC, PS3, 360; Bethesda game based on the books by Richard Marcinko.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - Nintendo Wii, very stylized JRPG.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom - Wii

Magna Carta II - from Atlus for the 360

Alpha Protocol - think Mass Effect but with spies instead of aliens

Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny for the PSP, now with Kratos fighting action!

Warriors Orochi 2 for the PSP

Bayonetta - sexy female gun slinging action

The Agency - MMO espionage for the PS3

Saw - You know, of intense horror torture is your thing

Batman: Arkham Asylum - one of the most anticipated games of its genre, complete with Mark Hamill Joker

Overlord II: the first was a lot of fun, but very clunky. I played the demo last night and while they certainly fixed some things (they added a much needed mini-map), there are still some problems with the controls. Also I got stuck on a DEMO, which is not a good sign. In this one you topple the Roman Empire and club baby seals to death.

Astro Boy - DS, Wii, PS3, PSP

Quantum - action adventure game from Tecmo

Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

Fat Princess - Never has there been so much controversy over a "save the princess" game; rescue your overly large beloved princess and capture your enemy's.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - PS3 and 360, with help from Hideo Kojima.

DC Universe Online - the other highly anticipated title of its genre.

Ace Attorney Edgeworth - Aaaah I can't wait! I hope it's out in time for my birthday, or at least Christmas.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 - all those boobs are just for the PS3

Heavy Rain - mystery thriller for the PS3

Alright I think that about does it. Most of the rest I've already talked about in my conference posts. Hopefully with everything you've found plenty of games to look forward to! I know I have!

E3 2009 - Sony

2009-06-02T15:10:00.006-05:00

Sony now. I have to be honest here and say I don’t give a crap what Sony’s showing. I don’t have a PS3 or a PSP, and have no near or future intentions of getting either. The only thing I have an interest in is Team ICO’s next title, which might be enough to make me want to get a PS3, but it won’t be out for a while anyway. I don’t even care about God of War 3; I enjoyed the first 2, but I’m kind of tired of it personally.

And here it goes. Montage video to start with. Overlord, God of War, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, Singstar, FFXIII, Batman, Brutal Legend, Ghost Busters, Saw.

Please welcome Jack Tretton, CEO. “Wow. Thank God you guys showed up.” He’s joking about the leaks. Saying they won’t be outdone by anybody with press leaks. 364 games coming out on PS platforms this year. That is a BIG screen. Apparently it’s not worth watching anything unless it’s shown that big. He’s going over figures and history. 30% of total sales in 2008 were from Sony. Modern Warfare 2, FFXIII, Ratchet and Clank, Batman Arkham, Heavy Rain, Rock Band Beatles. But at least 3 of those will also be on the 360 Jack.

Talking about the PS2 now and how it’s still kicking ass 9 years later. Mine is still kicking, surprisingly. PS2 will get 100 new titles this year. “Today’s PS2 owners are ultimately tomorrow’s PS3 owners.” More facts and figures. More figures regarding PSN.

What consumers really care about – great games. Haha he says some of you have bags under yours eyes because you’re playing Infamous. It’s one of the more than 35 exclusive PS3 titles for this year.

Naughty Dog and Uncharted Drake’s Fortune. Co-Pres of ND is coming out for Among Thieves. Multi-player beta starts tonight. Demo – nice graphics. He’s scaling a building. Big sweeping view of the gorgeous environment. Showing off different player abilities. He’s shimmying across a wooden beam and a helicopter shows up and starts shooting at them. Big shoot out, and an explosion. It’s a really good looking game, fast paced, pretty intense.

Jack is back. Says “Only on Playstation” means not only exclusive, but because it’s only possible to make on Playstation. He’s talking about MAG now. They talked about this last year. It’s a huge massively multiplayer FPS game. 256 players fight each other on a single map. They’re pulling a bunch of people to show off a full 256 person battle live. Ground vehicles, air strikes, ground assaults. Squads are assigned objectives. A LOT of stuff is going on. It looks like there’s a bit of tactical strategy type stuff going on as well. It’s great that you can play with so many people, this massive battle, but the game itself (graphics, gameplay, etc) isn’t blowing me away or anything (it’s not bad, it’s just not OMG amazing).

Jack is back to talk about the PSP. It’s for gamers looking for a richer, deeper portable experience he says (a shot at Nintendo). Dissidia Final Fantasy on Aug 25, Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines in November, and a Rock Band title. Tween girls again. Hannah Montana with a Lilac PSP. People cheered, haha.

Kaz Hirai, CEO Sony computer entertainment. He’s talking about making the PSP better. I’m assuming this a lead up to the PSP GO, which was leaked last week. Wow it’s tiny; he pulled it out of his pocket. LOL “We call it the worst kept secret of E3.” It will not replace the PSP 3000 or the UMD. So they will still support the UMD format. PSP Go, by the way, is digital only. 50% smaller and 40% lighter than the original PSP. 16 gigs of internal flash memory (pretty good). The controls slide out, has Bluetooth tech and an M2 memory port. Media Go, used to access the Playstation Store. Sense Me – analyzes your music library to create a play list based on the mood you select. That’s neat. PSP toolkit price is being lowered by 80% to help developers. All future titles will be released on UMD and digital. So you can have either and still play all games. Available for $249 on October 1st.

He’s talking about a video delivery service. Now you can use it with the PSP. More content being added to PS store. He’s naming off a bunch of networks that will add content (Starz, G4, Showtime, Manga, E).

Kazunouri Yamauchi for Polyphony Digital. Introducing Gran Turismo for PSP. Full scale Gran Turismo (60 frames per second). 800 cars, 35 tracks with 60 layouts. Everyone’s got a new racing game this year I guess. Single player mode and mission challenge mode. Emphasizing that this is a full game, not shrunken down. 4-player racing. Trading and sharing of cars with other players. Video of the game in action. Great graphics. October 1.

Kaz again. Quality and authenticity. It’s a Metal Gear announcement. So here’s Hideo Kojima. Poor guy; will they ever let him make anything else? Does he want to? Oh, his translator is kind of cute. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker for PSP. 10 years after MGS3 in the 1970s. Kojima is writing and producing and the MGS4 team is working on it. “It’s not a spin off or a side story.” Trailer. Takes place in Latin America (Costa Rica specifically). Has all the elements of a MGS game. “The legendary ‘missing link’ in the Metal Gear Saga,” the trailer says. “Monstrous foes incapable of feeling pain.” Uh, there are 4 Snakes here (clones?). LOL @ cardboard box; two Snakes hide under it and then run off.

Jack is back again. Resident Evil again, for the PSP. Little Big Planet, Socom, Monster Hunter, Motorstorm, Hannah Montana and Harry Potter, all on the PSP. Video of PSP titles. LBP, Ratchet and Clank, FF Dissidia, MGS, Soul Calibur, Tiger Woods, Persona (!!!!), Warriors Orochi, Tennis, Fat Princess, Rock Band, Petz.

Jack is back to talk about the PSN. Facts and figures. 51 PS1 classics are being added, starting today with FFVII. Talking about Home now. Talking about the poor saps who bought millions of virtual items.

PS3 montage now. Uncharted, Infamous, Madden, FF XIII, Batman AA, Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters, White Knight, Ninja Gaiden, Buzz, Ice Age, Tekken, Tiger Woods, something with a hamster, Overlord, Fat Princess, Singstar, DCU Online, LBP, Saboteur, Bioshock 2, Ratchet and Clank, God of War 3.

Jack is back, talking about Rockstar. Agent, PS3 exclusive. It’s an espionage game, set in the 70s.

Assassin’s Creed 2. Sebastian and Patrice from Ubi to show the game. Demo! Ubi showed a glorious cinematic, this is gameplay. Says it picks up right where the first left off. Beautiful. This guy isn’t an assassin at first, but becomes one, working with people like Leonardo Da Vinci; Ezio is using the flying machine to sail across Venice. Wow look at him go. Action slips right into a scene perfectly. Ooooo I can’t WAIT for this. Ezio has new techniques, like jumping from a tower and stabbing a guy, and double stabbing two guys next to each other. Now he stabs a guy while hiding in the hay. 30 different weapons in the game, 6 additional if you played Bloodlines on the PSP and connect it to the PS3. Wooooow. He has smoke bombs now. And he can SWIM. Oh wowowowowow. AC2, this holiday (Bloodlines too). Too bad I’ll be getting it on the 360, Sony. But thanks for getting me excited.

Jack is back to introduce Square-Enix. Here’s a video for FFXIII. Beautiful. Cinematics, in game scenes and gameplay, all look amazing. Boy Sony it trumping MS with all the extra footage they’re showing. Now he’s showing FF….WHAT? 14?????
Is he serious? Oh…no he’s not. That is not a nice joke. It looks really good. It’s NOT a joke. FFXIV Online. 2010, only on the PS3. I haven’t heard of this before. “So there’s one that didn’t leak out, huh?” I didn’t even know they were working on that. It’s not clear what it is; another MMO? Have to look it up later. It's just a cinematic, but it seems to be a new MMO. Not sure why they're making another one and not just adding to the one they already have. And I wish they'd stop putting them in the numerical series; they should be separate, like the Crystal Chronicles and Tactics games.

Jack is talking about motion control now. It’s a new controller. He’s assuring everyone it’s just a prototype (it’s kind of tacky). Live tech demo. 1:1 tracking. It’s basically a Wii mote for the PS3. It looks like it’s using the camera to track motion. The eye cam or whatever it’s called. So it tracks your movement as well as the object you’re holding in your hand. VERY early stage of development. Now he’s using it as a pencil to write on a piece of paper within the game. They’re just showing off various uses of the tool. As weapons, paintbrushes, with strategy games, and character control (he’s using two controllers, one as a sword one as a shield). It’s very sensitive and precise. Talking about this coming out by spring 2010. Would have been more impressive if MS and Nintendo hadn’t already shown of theirs (and theirs was in more advanced stages as well).

Jack is back to talk about LBP. And introduces Mod Nation Racers. “Play, create, share.” It’s a cutesy car racing game. You can create racers and race tracks. Well he just drove through a tree trunk, so it doesn’t seem super realistic. Will appeal to people who enjoy stuff like LBP more than people who like racing games. Good track creation tools, quick and simple, you can even change the weather. You can upload your tracks online.

Jack is back for a sneak peak at another title from TEAM ICO! Finally (though this was leaked, too). The Last Guardian. In Ico you climbed around a bunch of ruins with a girl. In Shadow of the Colossus you took down gigantic bosses. A big monster is chasing a kid through a hall in some ruins, and the kid drops off the ledge. The monster picks him up; it’s his friend. The boy climbs up onto its head and looks out over a ruined landscape. Absolutely beautiful. It’s this HUGE pet dog/bird looking thing (like a giant griffon almost), and it’s carrying him around everywhere, helping him up on ledges, swimming with him under water. Now THAT is worth buying a PS3 for.

Gran Turismo 5 teaser. Cars racing. Whatever. Still giddy over Last Guardian.

Here’s another franchise. This is likely GOW3. Yup. Design director is going to do a live demo. Kratos takes down some nasties in classic Kratos style. I assume if you liked the others you’ll like this one as it’s more of he same. Kratos is using harpies to fly across large gaps. A huge Titan approaches in the distance. Kratos glides across a smaller gap with some dark wings that come out of his back, then kills some stuff. And some more stuff. The Titan is still fighting its own battle in the background. Button combos for special attacks are back. I guess this is Apollo flying around on a flaming chariot, fighting the Titan. A big nasty chimera sneaks up on Kratos, and Kratos precedes to take him out. LOTS of blood. He rips the things horns off and stabs it in the head with them. March 2010.

Good spot to end things. Jack is back. Again with the “not just exclusive to the PS3 but only possible on the PS3.” “Other companies imagine the future of gaming, we show you the future of gaming.” Sony is always so snarky. And he wraps it up.

Come back later this week for a posting of various trailers and games that weren't announced during the big conferences.

E3 2009 - Nintendo

2009-06-02T12:14:00.010-05:00

Nintendo is first this morning. Finding it hard to get excited. Last year they were so disappointing. I don’t really know what they’ll have this time. There’s supposed to be a core announcement (ie: a Mario or Zelda…and hopefully not just the new Zelda DS that’s already been announced – Spirit Tracks).

It was stormy all morning, but it’s calmed down now. If it gets nasty again later, I can just unplug the laptop and keep going.

Watching some G4 blabber.

Is the Nintendo DS(i) going to remain the dominant handheld? What’s going to beat it, the iPhone? Hahahaha. I think Nintendo is safe. iPhone may have good games, but it’s not a gaming platform.

Silent Hill 1 is getting redone for the Wii (also PS2 and PSP). Developer assures that it won’t just be a port or something, but will be a different game.

“Stop announcing stuff for soccer moms and 5-year-olds” G4 says. No kidding.

They’re running some trivia up on the screen, which you can see over at Kotaku. Some are really easy, some are a little hard.

And here it goes. Here’s Cammie, all in white (she was in black last year, yay fashion). She’s talking about how big video games are (as big as home video, etc). Now she’s mentioning that gamers aren’t the only players anymore, but your uncle or some random lady play games too now. Leap forward in game control and surprises in places you thought there wouldn’t be any left.

Talking about the biggest game icon now, sounds like Mario. Yup. Video showing the history of Mario…sort of. Really short. Moving Mario into the 4th dimension is the next surprise. New Super Mario Bros for Wii.

Treehouse Group guy mentions it’s not just more levels, etc, but more players. Four people are playing Super Mario. You can run around on your own or do cooperative actions (like carrying each other to reach higher places). It’s classic Mario, just with co-op play. Some new items, like a propeller suit. If the lead player gets too far ahead, everyone else…falls off the screen? Not clear if that’s a “death” or something. Cammie didn’t do so good: “This is why I make my living selling games not playing them.” Holiday 2009.

She says even Mario isn’t big enough to attract all consumers. Talking about Wii Balance Board/Wii Fit. Wants to make Wii fit easier to use – Wii Fit Plus. Helps develop a work out routine (sounds like what Ubi and EA were talking about yesterday with their programs) with a personal trainer. Adds some new activities. Choose programs to target specific body parts (like Ubi’s), and keeps track of calories (like EA’s). There’re also some fun games to play too. So Ubi and EA answered with their products, and Nintendo is basically countering with similar programs. Fall 2009.

Here’s Reggie Fils-Aime (Pres Nintendo of America). He’s talking about mainstream appeal just like Cammie was. Interface is the primary component. OK he’s talking about motion plus. Makes a game feel and play more real, not just look more real. Getting gamers off the couch (which the regular Wii mote didn’t really do). Fancy video that isn’t really showing anything. Ping pong player, basketball player, and a swordsman are waving a Wii mote around like a paddle/ball/sword; now an archer, golfer. Basically it’s showing that it’s like you’re doing the real thing. Microsoft’s Natal, if it works, will take this a huge step further.

Bill Trinen is back to demo with Wii Sports Resort (déjà vu, they pitched this last year). A Mii is skydiving and he’s moving him in the air with the ‘mote. A big group of Miis is falling in formation, and the parachutes open and you land in the Resort. Now he’s showing archery. It’s already loads better than Wii Play, which was the last game packed with a remote. Sports Resort will come with the Motion Plus add on. He’s using the ‘chuck as the bow string and the ‘mote is the bow in your hand. He’s bringing Reggie out to play some basketball with him. Bill “You shoot the ball at the hoop; you now that this is, right?” Reggie, sarcastically: “Yes, I do.” They’re being a little snarky about each others abilities. Shooting 3 pointers. You raise the remote and shoot like you would a real basketball.

Reggie is talking about Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, which will use motion plus (they will be packaged together). So will Grand Slam Tennis (also from EA like PGA) and Sega’s Virtua Tennis. “This new game in physical reality will have you muttering the same bad words you do in real life.” Red Steel 2 will be playable ONLY with motion plus (there ya go, have to have it to play). More 3rd party games were sold for DS and Wii than other platforms (really?).

Talking about RPGs, the story goes on inside your head. It’s a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game. The Crystal Bearers. Looks good. Also coming to the DS – oh this is the Kingdom Hearts game. This I WANT. Good looking trailer with Utada singing Passion.

“Bowser really does suck. And I mean that in a good way.” LOL Reggie. It’s called Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story; it’s for the DS. This fall.

A legendary RPG name is on its way back to portables. GOLDEN SUN DS! AWESOME. It looks great. 2010. Have to get that.

Cammie is back to talk about the DS and innovation. She’s talking about James Patterson (a mystery writer). Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion – an interactive novel for the DS. I don’t read a lot of modern novels, and I don’t read any mystery, so I don’t know what this will be. But it looks OK.

New intellectual property from Ubisoft – Cop: The Recruit. About an undercover New York cop named Dan. He used to be a street racer, but got arrested, so now he works for the force. Racing and shooting.

*sigh* Girly fashion game for tweens and women in their 20s. Style Savvy for the DS. It’s the Japanese game Girls Mode.

Nintendo DS = diversity, Cammie says. “Something for everyone.” She’s talking specifically about the DSi now. Video of mostly a bunch of girls and a couple guys talking about the DSi. Personalization is the difference between the DS Lite and DSi. People don’t just consume, they create and share. Flip Notes Studio, an animation program, is coming this summer. Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again will be the first to let players design levels from the ground up. Available only as a download June 8th. Wario Ware DIY lets people design their own games from scratch. Cammie is better when she’s bubbly and smiley; she’s kind of subdued today. This summer you can upload DSi pictures onto Facebook. “No Nintendo DS creation is more anticipated than….Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks.” She didn’t give a release date for that.

Video “Everyone’s Game.” Another montage of random stuff. And here’s Satoru Iwata (global Pres.).

Aw isn’t he adorable with his heavy accent (he is). Talking about globalization and audience expansion (which he says people think is falling). Talking about targeting “Maybe” players to get new players. 149 people in US, Japan, Europe who “might” play video games. For every 2 people playing there’s 1 more waiting to play, he says. Those who never played games in the past will never play games in the future, he says. He says that people assume games are too complicated (I think that’s what he meant). But if they lower the bar they won’t satisfy skilled players. There’s a big gap between the experienced and the novices. Wants to use New Super Mario Bros, Wii Fii and Sports Resort to help bridge the gap; they’re “everyone’s game.” But he says this might not be entirely convincing. So he has one potential answer. Wii Vitality Sensor.

It’s like a pulse taker you put on your finger. …. So, this is for…what? It goes hand in hand with Wii Fit, I guess. He says it can help with greater relaxation. Traditionally video games give increased excitement and stimulation, but it will not be long before they help people unwind or even fall asleep, he says. Again…what is this going to do? …. Uh well…. Huh. That was…odd. He didn’t really give any real example of what would be done with it.

Cammie is back with more Mario news. For the first time ever, she says, a second full 3D title will appear on a single Nintendo console. It looks a little like Mario Galaxy. Um, OK a lot like Mario Galaxy. Exactly like Mario Galaxy. And it’s called Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Reggie is back. He’s naming off all the things they just announced. “But I’ll be honest, I read the blogs too. And I’ve been a gamer myself for a long time. I know there are still people out there listening: OK great, but I want more.” And he says this is usually associated with 3rd party titles. A new IP from Sega – The Conduit. Retails in 3 weeks. It’s a FPS with aliens. Capcom – Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles. Leon, Claire, Steve, with some classic RE action. These are all really short trailers that aren’t showing much. Dead Space Extraction from EA.

What about Nintendo itself, says Reggie. Could a new edgy game be coming. A fresh look at a franchise. Team Ninja and Nintendo. That looks really nice. Looks great actually. Metroid: Other M. Samus is kicking some ass. Flips back and forth between 3rd person and platforming. 2010. Nintendo is delivering this year. But…where’s Miyamoto? Big finale? Zelda console maybe?

Reggie is talking about their goals of making everyone gamers again. …. No Miyamoto? A Nintendo conference without Miyamoto???? Wow. That was it. Sony is later.

E3 2009 - Ubisoft

2009-06-01T21:11:00.007-05:00

Ubisoft now. Last one of the day. Tomorrow is Sony and Nintendo.

Ubi is opening with a mix of game shots – Ninja Turtles, Avatar, Rayman, etc.

The Soup’s Joel McHale? Whyyyyyy. I can’t stand this guy’s show. His kids are distracting him from his gaming time…which is funny, but…. Man I really don’t like this guy. Why is he introducing Ubi games? It’s basically a stand up comedy routine. He’s going to introduce someone but is joking about how he can’t reveal the name for whatever silly reason. And here comes the CEO, Yves Guillemot. Very heavy French accent, a little hard to understand.

Talking about…media conversions. Bridging the creative talents. I’m feeling bad because I can barely understand what this guy is saying. It sounds like he just said they created Bill Gates. Oh, now he’s talking about U Play. Allows consumers to create content to share. U share, U win, U help (will let someone help you if you get stuck in a game), and U shop. That’s cool. Launch at the end of the year for Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell and Avatar. Creating bridges with Lightstorm and Fox. Probably going to see some Avatar footage later.

Oh, there’s been a merger of talent. They’re going to work with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg for Paramount’s Tin Tin (?). Now he’s talking about exploring technological break throughs (Wii mote, DS, iPhone).

Redsteel 2. Rayman and Shaun White, big sellers. Now talking about using cameras and microphones. Sounds like what MS was showing off during their conference. Wanting to be mass market, expand the gaming market, etc.

Managing director Yannis Mallat is here to talk about (in a much easier to understand accent) shaping the industry. Achieving true content convergence with Ubisoft digital arts. He’s talking about their work on movie special effects. Like James Cameron’s Avatar. He is thrilled to announce today that they are “devlahping” over 100 shots for the film. Ubisoft Digital Arts working on real time engines with pre-render technology (like AC) for movies. Assassin’s Creed 2 short movies….live action? For promotion. That sounds awesome, I can’t wait. Is Ubi trying to be the new WETA Digital? Ubi is becoming a full 360 (degree, not Xbox) development company (meaning branching out into many technologies and media areas).

James Cameron is here. Wow, there is some serious star power at E3 this year. He’s here, of course, to talk about Avatar. Every time I hear about this game I always think “The Last Airbender.” He’s talking about how when he first created this 15 years ago he was told it would be impossible with the current technology, so now he’s out to try again. He’s describing the film’s setting and characters – a forested moon called Pandora. Avatars are hybrid human and…the race they’ve created (which I can’t spell…Navid maybe, Navee). ….Good gracious he’s going over the whole freakin’ plot of this thing. I’m glad he’s excited but uh, leave us some film to watch, you know? Took him 9 years to develop some of this film technology. Sounds awfully impressive. How ‘bout showing us some? No, now he’s going on about picking the right video game company (Ubi, obviously). James, dear, we don’t have this kind of attention span (or I don’t anyway). Talking about developing a game both similar to and separate from the movie. Boy, 2 years of this, 4 years of that. This movie/game must be freakin’ amazing for all the time being sunk into it. Talking about working together hand in hand with Ubisoft to develop the game and film; some back and forth aid. Oh the movie is in 3D, so he wanted to get Ubi to make the game in 3D and…they went for it. Man, Cameron is really long winded. How about some footage of this amazing film/game? No…but he is telling us the game won’t contain movie spoilers (it comes first). And on and on and on. He’s getting a little repetitive now. Demo available this week. OH FINALLY. I have great respect for him but geez! That went on forever.

And here’s Joel again. ….. Wait all of that and no footage, WTF? Joel is afraid of the French guys. So, did they bring this guy in to tell jokes to wake them up after Cameron’s loooooooong speech? Too bad he’s not that interesting either. He’s talking about Redsteel 2 and Wii Motion Plus. FINALLY a trailer of something. A guy is swinging the Wiimote around (big sweeping motions) while the character in the game slices up some baddies. Graphics look good. He’s having a sword fight with a bad guy now, switches to a gun, and blows him away.

Creative director, Jason Vanderburg (that is NOT how it’s spelled) for RS2, with the lead designer. They’re going to do a live demo. Character is being dragged on the ground behind a motorcycle and you have to dogdge various things, like oncoming traffic and burning barrels. Neat looking cut scene, looks a little cell shaded. Some first person action with the sword. It’s mapped 1:1 with the Wiimote. So like Twilight Princess but way more movements and more precise, and it also measures the force you swing with. You can quickly switch back and forth between sword and gun. Looks like he’s moving the character around with the nun chuck. “We really believe that hitting things is fun.” Like doors apparently. Oh that was rad. He threw a guy up in the air, then jumped up and slashed down at him. This is really cool looking; it’s very responsive as well (and 60 frames per second, Jason says). Game will be bundled with Wii Motion Plus at launch.

Joel again. Blah blah lame attempts at jokes. More Shaun White is coming. Ought to work with Tony Hawk to use that skateboard peripheral, but then, they have the balance board with the Wii already. The new Tony Hawk game will be a good competitor for this.

Soccer, Academy of Champions. And here’s…Pele, a big time soccer player apparently. Some technical difficulties here. Joel jokes “The game does much more than this, right Pele?” Pele asks Joel if he speaks Portuguese or Spanish while they try to make the trailer work. Pele jokes that he doesn’t speak English (oh so this girl is his interpreter). Pele is doing really well with English for someone who can’t speak English. Oh, now he’s not speaking English anymore. Pele is happy to be there. Pele is talking about how important soccer (futbol) is to him. Joel shuts up (hooray) and lets the guy talk. Pele talks about how important children are. And now he’s talking about the game in general, and how happy he is to work on it. And now the trailer. Rated E for “comic mischief.” It looks like it’s about kids at a Harry Potter type school for soccer. It’s exactly like Harry Potter for Soccer. Clearly something meant to be cute and fun for kids than a serious soccer game.

“The only guy back there not speaking French” jokes Joel as he unfortunately takes over again. Talking about reinventing a successful product. Introducing…producer and creative director for Splinter Cell – Alex Parizeu and Max Beland, with French last names I can’t spell. Saw Splinter Cell earlier during MS’s conference, minus the adorable French guys. But that’s OK, because it looks totally bad ass. Oh the targeting thing is called “mark and execute.” It looks like it works really well. Joel is super excited, he seems to be a fan of the series. Max is going to play a demo. This is all the same stuff from earlier today. Sam is on his own in this one, looking for his daughter’s killer.

Joel is back making more bad jokes. Evolving interfaces. What is this? Ruse? Something about commanding armies, so probably a strategy game. Two way too intense guys are fighting a battle with a navy assaulting a beach. It’s a cool looking trailer; they’re moving their pieces around on a tabletop screen (not how the game works but it’s a neat effect). It’s a RTS. Joel makes more bad jokes.

Joel said “the industry’s fastest growing category: casual games.” NOOOOO. *sigh* A single guy claps for his “game packages are hard to open” joke. Sr VP of marketing Tony Key. Says he wanted to present the biggest seller. Asked the audience what the biggest seller was; I think someone said “Petz.” It’s Imagine. Oh joy. Pokemon, Imagine, Brain Age, Petz, Mario Kart, DS top brands. *sigh* Ubisoft tween games 2.0. Ugh geez. Tony says everyone wants to copy Ubisoft. By making games for little girls? Well EA had a whole to-do about them, so maybe so. *bangs head on table* Blah blah blah blah. Oh look, take a picture of yourself with your DSi and give yourself a makeover. Make crappy jewelry with your DS then order it in real life! The stars of Petz 2009. It has stars? Oh they’re hamsters or something. Teach your pets to become super stars! Oh it’s a new tween brand – Style Lab. Tony is definitely a sales guy, he’s pitching this stuff hard.

“What is the fastest growing genre over the last 12 months.” Fitness apparently. Felicia Williams, lead content designer, working with cameras in games. Sounds very similar to what EA is doing with Active. Tony makes a bad joke about the camera adding 10 lbs. What camera do they keep talking about? The MS camera I guess? Burn! She’s saying you shouldn’t have to use balance boards and wii motes, but your own personal exercise equipment or nothing at all. She basically said “all those others are not realistic and they suck.” Theirs is called Your Shape for the Wii…with a camera (so they’re competing with Wii Fit and EA Active). So not the MS camera. What camera? I guess…OH there we go, lol. It comes with the game. It scans your body, then you select the body area you want to work on, and it tells you what to do. A very chipper girl demos the game in a video. Why are all these fitness games on the Wii? Wii Fit, EA Active, Your Shape, all on the Wii. Where the market is I guess; lots of families have one.

Joel is back agaaaaain. Introducing Rabbids Go Home and Adrian Lacey. PLEASE stop making the Ryan Seacrest jokes Joel. Adrian runs out pushing a Rabbid in a shopping cart, and being chased by another. Boy Adrian is EXCITED. So you use shopping carts to collect stuff and build things. This is a cute trailer. A Rabbid jumps out at some poor kid grocery shopping. Havoc ensues and the Rabbids steal everything from cars to clothes from the humans. Now they’re gonna demo the game. Adrian is doing some jokes about Rabbids invading the Wii mote or something. He is way too into this. Bunny abuse is perfectly legal, as this guy throws a Rabbid around a closed space. You can customize your own Rabbid that will appear in the game and in cut scenes. Alright, I’m way bored now. It’s kind of funny, but I’m not really interested. You run around, collect things, run over people. You can also customize your cart. Did he just call it a “Wiimoot?” The Rabbids knocked an engine off an airplane and attached it to their cart for crazy movement. Ah, they’re done

Joel came back to introduce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and NA Pres. Laurent Detoc. Another French guy. Oi, how long had I been sitting here? Boooring. He’s introducing some Game Arts people in the audience. Trailer. Leo and Shredder. Splinter and April. Mikey and Don. Play anyone, it says. Fight everyone. Have a brawl. It looks like Smash Brothers with Turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up. Those graphics are…not that good. Sept. 22.

Big titles? OH OH a sequel to a multi award winning title. It’s No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Now I want my boyfriend to shut up. He keeps making sarcastic comments and I can’t hear anything, lol. OK he went away. Anyway, I wasn’t at all interested in No More Heroes the first time so…I don’t really care this time either. Here is Tetsuya Yamiguchi (Mizuguchi?) (in the audience). Uh…so they said “Hey we’re making No More Heroes 2 but we’re not telling you anything about it.” Oooook.

Assassin’s Creed 2 now. Seriously this game is looking way sweet. “We are going to unveil something very, very surprising to me. I could not believe the quality of the visuals.” Oh? SHOW US. Yes, I know you sold millions of them (over 8 to be exact). November 17! Yay. Here’s a trailer. 1486 Venice, Italy. It’s a Carnival. Some guys in masks are standing around. And here he comes. Fireworks going off. Stabbed in the face! Er, neck. Blood gushing out. And there’s Ezio with a slow smile (oh he’s handsome, yay!). And another smirk as he stabs some guy with a pole. He’s jumping around (btw, you can swim in this one). This is gorgeous. OH YEAH. Yeah you don’t diss on his momma. He will stab you. He shot the blade out of his glove. Kick ass.

Good way to end the conference, with a bang. That was pretty much totally boring. Nintendo and Sony, tomorrow morning.

E3 2009 - EA

2009-06-01T17:19:00.012-05:00

*huff, huff, pant* Man it's hot outside. Made it out to the mall, got my glasses fitted, and back home in half an hour. Love my glasses (almost the same as my previous frames), not so happy about my sunglasses. The frames are bigger than I remember, which meant the lenses are too. And they’re THICK. So all I see out of the corner of my eyes is thick plastic. And it sucks. They look very clinical, and not at all stylish or sexy. Might see if that’s a significant complaint to go and pick new ones (they’ve got a 30-day guarantee; not sure if this sort of thing applies, but if not, what does?).

OK, the blog really hates MSWord. It keeps trying to code it, but I just want to copy paste. Unfortunately it’s so much easier to type in Word than straight into the blogger for long posts like this. I’m going to have to find a way to work around it, because I wanted to go back in and add some trailer links, and it kept yelling at me. Annnnd problem solved.

Also, flip flips (the ones with the thing between your toes) are not made for walking…any sort of distance. I wore them downtown yesterday, big mistake, because I have blisters now, and they hurt.

And here goes EA.

Zombies? Oh no this has got to be for Dante’s Inferno. And it looks exactly like God of War, so if you like GoW I expect you’ll like this. I’m not really interested in the butchering of a classic piece of literature myself.

This guy is…I’m not sure (back edit: was John Riccitiello, CEO of EA). He’s taking about the Sims 3 launch tonight at midnight. Pointing out people in the audience who worked on Dante and Sims. Now they’re showing Sims 3. What I’ve seen so far has been really cool. The game takes another huge leap in innovation. Which is great, because no one wants to play the same damn game over and over again (I’m looking at you Animal Crossing).

12 great games from 12 creators. Chip Lang (?). To talk about stuff for the Wii I think. Oh he’s the general manager of EA’s Hasbro division (hate Hasbro, they ruined Dungeons and Dragons). He’s talking about Littlest Pet Shop games. *sigh* No one sitting over there is going to give a crap about this. Marketing – you buy the stuffed animal, type in a code and use the pet online.

Dyan Williams, SR producer of…Charm Girls Club. So I guess today is EA’s little girls debut game. Great. How do you start with Dante’s Inferno and then go to this? Some little girls onstage are playing the game on the Wii. They’re…teasing hair. They kind of look like Bratz. I was never very girly so…I really couldn’t care less. It’s makeover, clothes, crap like that. It’s a mini-game collection I think.

Need for Speed Shift. With Patrick Suderlond (?). More racing. Zzzzzz…. Is Need for Speed better than Forza? I have no idea. Driver profile – ties you in emotionally or something. “How you drive on the track defines who you are.” Tech problems with the trailer. So I guess what they’re saying is you can level up some sort of skill set based on how you drive. I’m not sure. He’s basically saying if you’re aggressive, you bump people (duh), and if not then you get better speed, etc. So…it’s literally how you use your controller. That’s not…anything special. It sounds like a bunch of fluff terms. Maybe I’m just not understanding what he’s trying to say. Wow that was some wreck; the camera moves around in the car and you look like you’re really crashing a car. And…he’s giving away a car to someone on Thursday. That’s nice.

Dragon Age Origins. Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk from Bioware (why can’t game people have normal spelled names). Mentions that it’s one of their most ambitious games, it’s dark, etc, with major decisions you’ll have to make. Trailer. Scantily clad lady there. Nasty orcs, demons and dragons. Very bloody, blood spewing everywhere. Girl in her undies…because I’m sure they totally had lace panties and bras back then. Armor looks good. SWEET. Oct. 20.

Mass Effect 2. Talking a bit about the first game, and Sheppard. “He’s a kick ass hero who will get the job done at any cost.” He sure is. Suicide mission into the heart of enemy territory. Shooter action, new characters, new worlds. First full game play trailer. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. There’s the Normandy. Voice over sounds a little like Sheppard. “Sheppard, but you’re dead” says a blue alien chick (forgot what they were called). Some shooting here, guy falls out a window. Seth Green is back as the pilot. “It’s not the Geth.” So new enemies then. Explosions. Logo.

Moving on to EA Sports now it seems. Pretty much anything I cared about from them has already been shown. Sooo losing interest. Montage of real people doing sport things. And here’s Peter Moore. “Personal access to the emotion of sports.” “There’s no win like a sports win.”

Fight Night Round 4. Showing Ali and Tyson fighting each other. Talking about the physics engine. Where’s my manga…. Physics, strategy, style. Giving the characters real stats and size based on their stature and moves, so some realism here is what they’re going for. June 25.

New franchise. MMA. MMA? Oh, mixed martial arts.

Talking about their success with their sports games. Steve Chiang now to talk about online play. Tiger Woods PGA (browser game) and the new EA sports website. Team Builder for NCA Football 10 user content, team creators, all online. Team Builder is available now, game comes out in a month.
“We believe this next feature will end productivity in the American workplace.” Again building online communities. You can use your iPhone.

Bold new direction, eh? EA Sports Active. Talking about the Wii now. Peter is talking about the abuse and cynicism toward video games, but that EA Sports has helped lift the stigma. Video about active, showing people using it to exercise. Alison Sweden (?) is coming out to talk about Active as an exercise and weight loss program. 600,000 units sold.

Grand Slam Tennis on Wii, comes out next week. Works with Wii Motion Plus. Live stage demo, Peter’s gonna play with another EA guy (game’s producer). LOL at Peter’s comment on EA Sports execs being follicly challenged (they’re both going bald). They’re not doing so hot. A guy just snuck up behind them; professional tennis player I’m going to assume. It’s Pete Sampras (?), 14 time Grand Slam champion. “Let me explain how to play tennis.” Haha. Very good movement reactions. And that’s it from Peter.

Tom French, lead designer for The Saboteur from Pandemic. Trailer – skanky hoes dancing with soldiers. He tosses a guy from the roof that falls down in front of another soldier and splatters blood everywhere. Nice color scheme here, black and white, with red. Then it cuts to full color. Good looking game. “The Will to Fight” - when Sean fights the Nazis, the color comes back into Paris. That’s a really cool idea. “And yes, you can absolutely climb the Eiffel Tower.” Stealth, disguise, assassination, sabotage. Some 3rd person shooter action, then he hops into a car and drives off, to hide in the red light district. Haha, he got some while he was hiding in there, too.

EA Partners. He’s (the pres or VP, missed his name early on…oh it’s John Riccitiello) talking about partnering with other developers, etc. Leading up to:

Brutal Legend, Tim Schafer. He’s talking about the amazing cast they have. “People say did you make this game just to meet all these people? Yeah.” He’s talking about the story and characters. Showing part of a trailer. “Out of the light comes….a roadie. Armed with the power of metal and destined to become…a Legend.” Game looks pretty funny. Oct. 13. Video message from Jack Black. Should have gotten him to show up, though Jack Black can’t really compare to Ringo and Paul. Jack being Jack and a brief clip of game play.

CEO of Crytek. Cevat Yerli. Cyrsis 2. 360, PS3 and PC, simultaneously. So…maybe people will actually be able to play this one.

Sometimes you have the pleasure of actual news? Lol, is that what he said? Real Time World studio. Here’s Dave Jones for All Points Bulletin. So…it’s an online GTA sort of something? Showing off some great character customization tools. Trailer shows lots of crime, car jacks, robberies, shoot outs, car chases, boobs. This seems interesting, if I’m understanding it correctly. It looks like an online game where you can all play together in this city, interacting, fighting each other, etc. But they didn’t really explain and….

Now there’s some Star Wars music. And people in costumes walking across the stage. They have light sabers. Oh these have mics; must be developers in Jedi robes. Bioware and Lucas Arts. Ray again and Darrel Rodriguez. Star Wars TOR MMO. The fist ever fully voiced MMO. That’s pretty cool. One of the largest voice over projects in the history of games, Ray says. Every class will have its own unique story. This game has always sounded impressive but…also overly ambitious. I trust Bioware, but I worry as well. Cinematic trailer now. Sith lord walks by, takes down some bitches. Transport ship crashes through the wall and runs over some Jedi. Big light saber battle. Wow this looks amazing…for a cinematic. Game won’t be like this of course. (It will look like this.) But this is totally bad ass looking. “You were deceived, and now your Republic shall fall.” Ooooh snap. Oh Bioware, I love you so. Hell yeah that was stunning.

And they’re done.

E3 - Microsoft

2009-06-01T15:44:00.013-05:00

Not real excited about E3 this year. It just seems like everything's already been announced, you know? The big titles have been out of the box for a while now, and there are trailers and screen shots and interviews. Over the weekend, a lot of stuff was leaked out - oops. What's left to surprise?

Microsoft has the first big conference this morning. Going to do my best to live blog it here. Though there seem to be some time discrepancies between Kotaku (whose live blog I watch to help me keep track of people's names and other things I don't immediately know or recognize; I learn a little more every year) and G4 (which will be airing the conferences). So we'll see. Borrowing my boy's computer for this, as it's a laptop, and instead of looking back and forth between the TV waaaaay over there and my computer waaaaay over here, I can just plop comfortably on the couch and save some neck movements or something. Anyway it just makes it simpler. Except that his computer seems to have an aversion to Firefox,which is annoying, because I hate Internet Explorer.

I do have a review for Paradise Kiss about halfway written, but I'll put off posting it until after the E3 mess, or I'm afraid it would get lost in the midst of everything else.

Alright, got the time stuff figured out. Everything is good to go. Just going to have to get used to typing on a different keyboard here. Shouldn’t take too long. Watching G4 crap. Morgan, Adam and Kevin. I can’t stand any of them, to be honest. Especially Kevin. I respect Adam as a person, because he’s got good opinions, and is likely the only thing keeping G4 afloat with any dignity (though there’s not much left), but I don’t care to watch him. He’s so freakin’ WIRED; if you watch their coverage you’ll see what I mean. As the week plays out and he gets more exhausted, he pumps more caffeine, and it’s just insane.

Holy crap that’s a LOT of green. I wish I could punch Kevin in the face. GET OFF MY TV. Maybe one of these years I’ll actually get to go TO E3, instead of having to listen to these ‘tards. If there’s still an E3. As usual, there are already cries of “This is their last year to prove themselves,” “this will be strike 3 if it doesn’t work,” etc. Gonna read some Fruits Basket while G4 peeps go on and on about Gears and Halo (don’t care, hated Gears).

Oh, they mentioned something that bugs me, and that I share the same opinion on. Paying for wallpapers. I refuse to do so, especially since there are no previews, so you can’t see what the hell you’re buying. Oh and PS – avatars still suck. Saw something recently where they showed the previous designs Rare had come up with, and every single one of them was LOADS better than what we ended up with.

Here we go. Kotaku’s live blog isn’t working properly for me I don’t think. Herm…
Opening crap – Beatles Rockband (really pretty looking video actually, it’s the opening cinematic). Now they’re gonna talk about it. Game will be simultaneously released with the re-release of 14 remastered Beatles albums. Now there’s a big group onstage playing the game (3 singers, 2 guitars, drums, but I don’t think they vocals are being used in the game). And they got people who actually know how to play the damn game; that’s good.

OH SHI glasses place just called and they’re ready! Gonna have to wait…um…a while to pick them up. MS conf is 2 hours, lol. They weren’t supposed to be in until Wed; they’re early.

Well that was exciting! Good way to launch the conference. Ok, I have no idea who these people are that keep talking. But they’re still going on about the Beatles. Ah, some of my fave songs being showcased here (they could fill a single CD, so there aren’t many). Game looks good. Full album downloads (starting with Abbey Road, wow). My boy is a big Beatles fan; maybe we’ll snag this at some point. Proceeds for All You Need is Love DLC will go to a charity (360 exclusive). Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison? ….they just came out, waved, and went away, lol. What was the point of that? Paul and Ringo! Seriously??? Wow. Oh and THEY got mics, lol, they get to talk. Praising the game Ringo: “the game is good, the graphics are good, and we were great.” And they’re gone. :(

VP John Schappert. Oh it was Doctors Without Borders (not sure what that is, charity). Yes, I want to have fun and enjoy tv, movies and music. Showing not telling (yay no charts and graphs!). 10 world premiere games, never before seen (haha I bet, we’ll see). LET’S GO. Tony Hawk here. Uh, this is far from new. Showing off the new skateboard controller for his game, Tony Hawk Ride. Boy I hope that thing works right or it will be a financial disaster. Video of real people skateboarding, and then playing the game.

Trailer for Infinity Ward game Modern Warfare 2. Good looking game, not a lot of gameplay shown. Comes out in November. Jason West and Vince Zampella for MW2; demoing the game. Oh sweet, guy is climbing an icy cliff with uh...whatever those things are called…ice pick climbing gear things. Some shooting now. Good environments; snow is blowing around making visibility difficult, but the gun has a radar screen on it, useful. Scene jump again – big shootout at an airbase. Pretty realistic as far as physics, etc, go.

Takasi and Toriyama from Square for FFXIII. Stage went from green to blue with lights lol. Some FF history. 20 years since the first FF was released and saved Square’s ass. Did he just call it xbox-san? Cute. Trailer in English – looks good. Some gameplay footage. Ooo that’s pretty. Moves along pretty quickly. Talking about attack menu, multiple ATB bars. SUMMON, bad ass, Odin. Spring 2010 (geezes).

John again. Introducing…360 exclusives. Epic Games, Donald and Cliff. Newly resurrected E3 he says (Cliff) – one can hope. Donald’s mic is cutting out (so he’s just gonna yell now). Shadow Complex. Don is demoing the game. 10 hour long campaign (this is an Arcade title I think). “Gotta love live demos” someone shouts out as the character glitches and walks on air. This summer.

John again. New way to play on Live. Joy Ride from Big Park (?). Avatar oriented game on the Arcade. Some kind of racing game. Free to DL, free to play (but you pay out the ass for cars, maps, etc, DLC haha). Winter.
New chapters of favorite franchises…Halo? Nope, Crackdown 2. Nice graphics. Good setup.

Another trailer, this one’s for something with nasty looking zombies. And head explosions. Lol “If we run out of bullets, they gonna wish we hadn’t.” Left 4 Dead 2. November.

Ubisoft: Fischer is…oh Sam Fischer. This is uh, Splinter Cell Conviction. Looks nice, great graphics. OOOOO haha he owned them.
Max and Alex (creator, producer)…they’re French so Ubisoft. Here to talk about SCC and play the demo. “Sam has changed, and this time he’s on a personal mission.” Sam is beating up, I mean gently questioning, some guy in a bathroom. Gameplay, environments, looking good. Sam shoots out a light, then a guy’s head. Now he’s hanging outside on a window ledge and shooting guys inside a room. Good targeting system. “Now that we’ve seen how powerful Sam is in stealth, let’s see what happens when he charges through the door.” He kicks some ass is what happens. Big fire fight, lots of explosions, he maneuvers around the ledge on the outside of the building. Fight cuts right into a cut scene, seamlessly. Fall exclusive on 360.

John’s back. “The platform for the hottest games.” Racing games apparently. Zzzzzzz…. Forza Motorsport 3, from Turn Ten, in October. SHORT trailer, and now Dan from Turn Ten to talk and demo and show off a real car. Where’s my Furuba book…. They’re showing off the car paint system in the game. People talking about their love for cars. It looks good…I guess? I don’t pay attention to racing games.

Joe (Koe?) Staten from Bungie. Halo ODST. Beautiful. They’re dropping, a Covenent ship warps, there’s a big explosion, and they crash. New Mombasa, weeks before the start of Halo 3 (so it takes place between 2 and 3). ODST members have access to equipment Spartans don’t? Haha, poor Master Chief. Anyway he’s demoing some gameplay. Looks like Halo (meaning like it’s supposed to). Lowlight vision visor. Very good looking game. Game flashes back to other ODST guys, where you fight as them, to piece together the clues of the story. Short of it is, if you like Halo, you’ll like some more Halo. September 22, 2009.

OH OH. Another team at Bungie has been up to something secret (Halo Reach?). “From the beginning, you know the end.” LOTS of explosions on a planet seen from space. Yep it’s a trailer for Halo Reach (secret already blown over the weekend). Fall 2010. When you buy Halo 3 ODST you get an invite to the Reach multiplayer beta. Not that there’s anything wrong with Halo, but will Bungie ever do something else? Ever again?

Sam Lake. All in game footage for…Alan Wake. Wow that’s a beautiful aerial shot. Alan is researching/writing a book, and I guess ends up right in the middle of a bunch of shit. Unfortunately I know little about this one, so I can’t really comment on what’s going on in the footage. It looks really creepy though. Good character movement (he reacts well to various effects). Alan lights a flare torch and the graphic rocks. He goes into a house and it collapses off a cliff. To be continued. WOW looks amazing. Spring 2010.

Innovation for Live (John again). Music coming to Live. With Last.fm. Whatever that is (don’t listen to the radio, or internet radio, or whatever). Live Gold (like Netflix) for free. Netflix – queue straight from your Xbox (nice). Sky TV partnering with Live for the UK and Ireland (since they can’t do Netflix). Zune video (to help quality (1080p), speed, and world wide availability). No discs, no downloads (video marketplace). 10 new countries are being added to the service. One more new feature – OH. So we can finally watch Netflix with friends over Live now? Uh…they didn’t really specify.
Felicia Day to talk about Facebook integration. She’s from The Guild and Dr. Horrible, fyi. Can combine facebook friends and Live friends together; uses Live avatars. Photo albums. Status updates (oh, joy). Facebook Connect. Post screens, texts in real time to Facebook. In addition to FB…Live and Twitter (oh geez). Don’t care about any of this personally, but it’s nice to see a girl up there. Fall.

Holy shit, I’ve got 4 pages, sorry guys. It’s not over yet either.

Senior VP Don Mattrick. What blockbuster are we missing? I don’t know Don, what? Oh, it’s Kojima (MGS). MGS coming to 360 (that’s what their agonizing, slow PR drip was about I guess). MGS Rising. OH it’s NOT Solid Snake Kojima says. “But Don, I didn’t say anything about Solid Snake.” 3 second trailer with a shot of Raiden’s face (not much of a reveal since it was on their site).

Don is talking about Live. Motion Control. Oh, with the camera? “Can we make YOU the controller?” A guy is playing a fighting game by moving around, and now a racing game with hands held like a wheel. Yeah, we knew about this already, but it looks interesting. Some guy scanned his real skateboard in and is now using its image in the game. Facial recognition (the game logged her in when she walked in front). Video chat. Voice recognition. Impressive. Scrolling through the movie list with their hands (wow). Woman says “goodnight” and the thing turns itself off. Project Natal. Will work with every 360 past and future (well I sure fucking hope so). It’s a kind of sensor bar that plugs into the console.

Steven Speilberg (wow this is some celeb line up they’ve got going on; hard to follow MS). Talking interactive entertainment. He is excited about Natal. “It’s not about reinventing the wheel, it’s about no wheel at all.” How much of this stuff is real? How much of this stuff is LEFT is what I want to know.

Kudo Tsunoda. He’s demoing Natal. Moving his avatar around with his body. A girl is leaping around the stage kicking a ball around to hit some bricks. Well beyond the movement required by a Wii game. You have to get up and MOVE. This is amazing stuff, really. Alright this is all more of the same. A guy is splatter painting by calling out the color he wants, then throwing the paint on with his body. Use your body to make a stencil shadow pose. This is very “stuff for kids” right now, but it has amazing potential.

Peter Molyneux (yay!). Says the controller is a huge barrier for creation and interaction. A boy named Milo within the system is interacting with a real person. Talking, emoting, moving. Freakin SWEET man. He’s totally reacting to what she’s saying and how she says it. He gives her some goggles and she moves to pick them up. This is really amazing. She draws a picture, hands it to him, and now it’s in his hand in the game. She’s leaving, and he tells her not to forget her mom’s birthday (suggests a level of inputs from the player).

And that’s it. Gonna go pick up my new glasses before EA and Ubi.

Check back again as I add in trailer links between conferences.

Chaos Head

2009-05-25T11:05:00.007-05:00

I watched this over the weekend, but I want to talk about a couple of other things before I get started.

I finally watched Batman: The Dark Knight. It was better than Batman Begins (but that's not saying much). In fact, everyone in it is great. Heath Ledger is great, Morgan Freeman is great, Gary Oldman is great, Michael Cain is great, Aaron Eckhart is great. Christian Bale is HORRID. He drags the entire movie down, keeping it an "OK" film instead of a "great" film. Well, OK...let's give the writers some credit for keeping it down, too. The editors deserve some of it too. Great actors cannot carry a film when they're given horrible dialog (see: Star Wars: Phantom Menace). And I don't care how good Ledger was (and I was impressed), a film will not be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar with such shoddy editing. Otherwise (well, not otherwise; the bat tank is still stupid), it was fine. Moving along.

E3 is in a week. Last year I paid pretty close attention, and even "live blogged" the big 3. I don't know that I will do that this year; I just can't seem to get excited. Last year was a huge disappointment, and I feel like this year they've already announced everything there is to announce. What surprises could there possibly be? And I'm in no mood for another year of casual nonsense.

There was something else I wanted to mention, and it wasn't just my increasing loathing of 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. So we'll move right along to a review of Chaos Head.

Review begins here

Chaos Head (written Chaos;Head) is based on a visual novel (no surprise there) by 5 pb. and Nitroplus. It's a bloody, sexual, psychological thriller. Well, that's it's genre...it's not like it's scary or particularly "thrilling." It's kind of average really. Actually, the basic story line is pretty intriguing. The idea that the body is made up of electrical impulses, and that certain people can project their own delusions into the minds of other people, or create physical manifestations of their own delusions. That a blind person could hook up a sort of video camera into a part of their brain, and be able to "see" again. It's fascinating. But the show is full of so much otaku pandering that it kind of gets lost. Think Clannad meets Evangelion meets Haruhi meets Serial Experiments Lain.

It's also sort of drowned out by a terrible male lead. He has what is most easily referred to as the Shinji Complex (meaning Shinji Ikari from Evangelion). I don't know about you, but I don't like leaving the fate of the entire world in the hands of the world's biggest loser. What makes the most whiny, cowardly, sniveling guy on the planet the most powerful guy in the world? And why does he get six hot girls following him around all over the place? They save his weak ass quite a bit too; is this some kind of male fantasy? Hot chicks wielding swords coming to your rescue?

I managed to watch most of this 12 episode show ignoring all this, and just enjoying what was going on. Until I got to the end and suddenly this lame ass is the most powerful guy around and he's suddenly able to defeat the bad guy. I just couldn't buy it; but I promise I tried! He just crawls around, whining and pleading for someone to come and save him for most of the show. It's hard to feel any sympathy for the guy.

The show gets a little confusing from time to time. The main character, Takumi, is a hard core hikikomori. He lives in some sort of metal shed on the roof of a building, and leaves only when necessary. He even has a schedule for school that he follows to ensure he only intends the minimal amount of attendance time required. He's obsessed with an anime called Blood Tunes the Animation, and creates this illusion of the main character in his home that he talks to and interacts with and pretends he's married to. He imagines the girls he meets in real life (and he states several times he has no interest in 3D girls) as part of the eroge games he plays. The guy is totally delusional. Which is where things get a little confusing, because sometimes it's hard to tell what things in the show are real and which are the delusions of either Takumi or other characters (sometimes it's way obvious though, once you realize that's what he's doing).

The girls that gather around him (and he himself) are called Gigalomaniacs, people who have experienced intense psychological trauma and can now turn their thoughts into reality. They each wield a Di-Sword, which is typically invisible to everyone (except other Gigalomaniacs) unless it has been real-booted (made into physical, solid reality). They all have their own goals, but ultimately they're fighting against the corporation NOZOMI, which is attempting to use a machine to create delusions of a perfect world for humanity. Or...something.

It's animated well enough, I guess, but I'm not a fan of the art style or character designs. I did really enjoy the opening theme - F.D.D. by Kanako Ito - but the music is so much better than the animated sequence it accompanies that it's not really worth mentioning otherwise.

By the way, the story takes place in Shibuya. Is Shibuya the new Tokyo? There used to be a joke (maybe it still is a joke) regarding all of the world destructing, apocalyptic type shows that wreak havoc on a fictional Tokyo. Shibuya seems to be the new place where unexplained circumstances screw with your mind (see also: The World Ends With You). Poor Shibuya.

Image (left to right): Sena, Kozue, Nanami, Takumi, Rimi, Ayase, Yua

Elfen Lied

2009-05-18T15:58:00.005-05:00

I'm sort of indifferent about this one, so I don't have much to say. Of course I say that, and I usually end up with loads to say anyway. We'll start with my first impression - too much cheesecake. The whole story seems contrived to have naked or mostly naked girls running around. They're naked a lot, and for no real reason. As for the story...well, there's not much there. Most of the important stuff is told in flashbacks, and a lot of what happens in real time is unnecessary. But the flashbacks are broken up across the episodes, stretching things out, adding little bits at a time. There's really not a lot going on; there are two major events from the past that impact the present story, and if they'd just gotten to the point, it would have saved a lot of time.

It's not that the show is bad, but it does try much too hard. The intro is amazing (video NSFW), with a beautiful song and wonderful animation. Nudity again, but it's presented as art (like old mythological paintings), and it's very beautiful. The show itself though...isn't. Well animated, yes. Artsy, no. Lots of blood, violence, nudity, bloody nudity, nude people being violent, etc.

The 13 episode series (released in the states by ADV) is just short enough not to get boring, and just long enough for what it needs to do. The series follows Kohta, newly moved into his cousin Yuka's family's closed down inn, and starting college. A little under 10 years ago, Kohta's father and sister were brutally murdered in front of him. This completely traumatized him, and he doesn't even remember the event, thinking that they died in other ways.

Enter Lucy, a strange (and naked) girl who washes up on the beach with no memories. Kohta finds her and, feeling sorry for her, takes her into his home. The only word she knows is "Nyu," and that's what Kohta and Yuka decide to call her (and guess who moves in with them because she's jealous; what's with cousins crushing on each other in Japanese anime?). Unfortunately this girls isn't as innocent as they believe. She is actually an escaped Diclonius, a species of evolved humans with horns growing out of their heads (though they look more like cat ears than anything); an extremely violent and vengeful Diclonius who just brutally tore her way out of the lab where she was imprisoned (for experimentation). A bullet hit her head while she was escaping, causing her to develop a split personality - the quiet and innocent Nyu. When she hits her head or is thrust into violent situations, her destructive personality reemerges.

The Diclonius are the driving force of the series (there are three of them). They all have invisible arms called vectors that are incredibly quick and strong. They are poorly treated and have developed intense feelings against humanity. Lucy in particular desires to destroy the human race and build a world for the Diclonius.

The Diclonius' true intentions, the secrets of those who try to control them, Kohta's past, and Lucy's true identity - all this is explored through different facets of human nature. When you break it down like that, it's actually a pretty interesting story. There's just too much fluffy, goofy stuff taking away from the darker realities. A small plot hole here, ambiguous conclusions, confusing details. Apparently there's a 24 minute OVA that answers some of the questions I probably had, but although ADV holds the license, it wasn't released.

The English dubbing is OK; about average. The show has some good music and is well animated. Extras on the DVDs include art galleries (auto play with music, not the kind you skip through image by image), clean credits, and trailers.

Legend of Crystania

2009-05-12T22:39:00.009-05:00

There are two of these sequels to the Record of Lodoss War anime series. Legend of Crystania: The Motion Picture, and Legend of Crystania: the Chaos Ring. The first is a film, the second is a three-part OVA presented as a single film. Both films follow the same characters on the island of Crystania (the god-land north of Alecrast, which itself is north of Lodoss Island), centering on the plight of Ashram, who has been taken over by the dark god Barbas, and Pirotess (which is pronounced Pirotessa in this film for whatever reason, though she is usually called Sheru) as she attempts to rescue him.

Some quick history is needed to really explain the plot of these films. It will also slightly spoil the end of Record of Lodoss War, so read this part at your own risk.

At the end of Record of Lodoss War, Ashram and the people of Marmo are left without a home. His ambitions of ruling a united Lodoss crushed, and his island being overtaken by the impending resurrection of Kardis, he gathers his people onto ships and sets sail for a new land.

During the War of the Gods (the same war in which Marfa and Kardis fought and Lodoss was created), many of the gods escaped to Crystania where they took on the form of animals and created a new land. They shut this land away from the rest of the world, allowing no outsiders onto the land. Races of shape shifting beast-men were created to populate the land, each race corresponding to a beast god.

At the beginning of Legend of Crystania, Ashram has traveled to Crystania, having found no other place to go. In order to secure a new home for his people, he makes a pact with the evil god Barbas, who takes control of his body. Ashram goes into a deep sleep inside his own body for 300 years.

After the 300 years, the immortal Pirotess still searches for a way to free her love from Barbas. Although this is a main driving force of both films, neither Pirotess or Ashram are the traditional main characters. The story focuses more on a young man named Redon, who, to save time, is basically this time period's Parn. After a messy (but successful) assassination plot against his father, Redon escapes with his loyal friend (and servant) Kwairde. They escape to Crystania, and are let inside, followed by several others from Lodoss: Obier (his father's would-be assassin), Raifan (a young shaman in training), Nasare (a sorceror), and Aderishia (a priestess). Along the way they meet up with Pirotess and some of the beast-men, and together fight to release Crystania and Ashram from Barbas' power; while conquering their own personal demons, of course.

The Chaos Ring is a direct sequel and picks up right after the first film (well, some time has passed, but nothing significant). There's some more back history in this one; the first film does little to explain the creation or significance of Crystania, but before each episode the history is explained (much like in Lodoss War). All of the animal gods make an appearance this time, not just Barbas. This time Barbas is attempting to regain his power and become the God's King, ruling not only Crystania itself, but all of the other gods (who jointly reign). The group, which had split in the interim, is called back together (or reforms along the way), to save Crystania once again, with plenty of brand new dangers.

For people who are thinking: Why is Ashram suddenly a good guy? He isn't suddenly anything. Ashram was never a bad guy. His intentions have never been evil. Antagonist does not always equal evil. Sometimes characters have the best intentions but use the wrong methods. Ashram was rather cold at times and did on occasion use very deadly force (which is in part due to the orders of his emperor (who had unfortunately been corrupted by the Demon King) , and the demon sword he also eventually carries), but all he ever wanted was a home for his people. And on his own (without the influence from Emperor Beld), he's a fairly honorable guy. He is changed from his character in the Lodoss series to an extent, though most of it is a visual impact (negatively); he also has more open feelings now, notably toward Pirotess, though his love and duty for his people has not changed (it's actually amplified). Regardless, his actual role in the films is quite small.

If you really must have more Lodoss, or you're interested in the mythology as a whole, then it won't hurt to watch these films. But if you're looking for a good anime, then you should stay away (unless you are really into sword and sorcery). Both films are poorly animated, acted, and written. There are plot holes between the two, pronunciation discrepancies between the dubbings of Lodoss War and the Crystania films (Pirotess isn't the only one with a new pronunciation), and the new characters are mostly uninteresting and have little personality. Redon is basically a copy of (young) Parn, but with no one like Kashue around to whip him into shape; there's something about him that several characters keep referencing (like within his soul, or his destiny), but nothing ever comes from this. Nasare isn't even half as interesting as Slayn. Aderishia could be really interesting too, but like Redon, most of her potential as a character goes unused. Pirotess doesn't even feel like the same character most of the time, and her and Ashram's character designs are plain and a little drab.

Both films are available from ADV Films.
Image (top to bottom, left to right): Obier, Raifan, Aderishia; Nasare, Redon, Pirotess/Sheru; Kwairde.

The Twelve Kingdoms

2009-05-04T23:58:00.006-05:00

Any fan of fantasy owes it to themselves to watch this series. So if you've enjoyed shows like Record of Lodoss War, Scrapped Princess, the Tales series (Abyss, Symphonia, etc), Inu Yasha, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, or The Vision of Escaflowne, then this will probably be right up your alley.

The anime is based on a series of light novels by Fuyumi Ono. There are around 11 volumes which are currently being painstakingly slowly published in America by Tokyopop. The 45 episode anime series has been released in its entirety by Media Blasters, and can be bought as individual discs, a 2-part box set, and I believe I saw a recent listing for an upcoming new box set to be released this summer. I should mention right away that the anime does not cover all the story lines, and much is left out at its conclusion, including at least one major story line that is begun within the anime and left unfinished. Those who wish to continue the story (I know I do) will have to wait on Tokyopop (good luck to us with that, because it's going to take over a decade since they only put out one a year).

In The Twelve Kingdoms, 16-year-old Youko is attending high school as a normal girl in regular modern day Japan. Her most dominant, and most unfortunate, personality trait is that she feels she must please everyone around her, and rarely thinks for herself. Her out of place naturally red hair has always been bothersome for her. One average day a beautiful man with long white hair calling himself Keiki appears in her classroom and bows at her feet, swearing an oath of loyalty and protection to her. Strange giant bird-like creatures attack the school, where Youko has found herself with Keiki and two of her classmates Yuka (a girl obsessed with fantasy fiction) and Asano (a boy Youko likes early on, though he doesn't exist in the novels). Keiki states that he cannot fight the monsters himself, and gives Youko a sword, expecting her to defeat them. With danger and possible death imminent, Keiki and his youma servants transport Youko and her friends through a whirlpool in the ocean and into the strange land of the Twelve Kingdoms.

Once they arrive, they find themselves separated from Keiki, and must make their own way in this new land. They also become separated from each other, and Youko must search for Keiki on her own. Along the way she meets up with a hanjyu (sort of...beast people who can transform into human form...he's basically a giant bipedal rat) named Rakushun. They manage to find the kingdom of En together, where Youko learns that she is meant to be the new queen of the kingdom of Kei. Keiki is actually a Kirin, a mystical creature born to choose the ruler of a kingdom.

The story centers mostly on Youko as she journeys through the kingdoms, and then as she grows as a leader. She begins as a whiny, overly emotional, selfish, mentally unstable brat. But as she begins to discover herself, and takes on the responsibilities of ruling a people, she grows into a strong young woman (and a totally awesome heroine). There are several other story lines. One follows Yuka, who becomes incredibly jealous that Youko is the "chosen" while she feels that she is far more qualified, and attempts to undermine Youko's every move. Some of the other kingdoms are also explored, notably the kingdoms of En (Youko has multiple encounters with the En king and Kirin), Kou, Hou (the princess of Hou becomes a major character in the second half of the series), and Tai (which is currently missing both its ruler and its Kirin, and it is this story line that remains unfinished at the show's end). Another young girl named Suzu also plays a large roll alongside the princess of Hou in the second half of the series.

The story is fantastic, the show is well animated, well written (except for the slightly sudden ending, which, while it does tie up the story line currently in motion, leaves much unfinished), and is generally well acted (meaning the English dub). I really fell in love with it myself. The mythology is very rich, and it's explained through situational story lines, instead of slammed into you all at once. It's a land governed by a ruler chosen by a mystical creature, that prospers or decays (very literally) based on how well or how badly its ruler performs. The only real issue I had with the show is the rather large amount of terms you have to learn to understand what is going on, especially when some things have multiple titles (Kirin are also known as Saiho), and even multiple names (all the Kirin have their Kirin names which are derived from their kingdom and their sex (-ki for males, -rin for females) and a nickname given by the ruler; and the rulers have their original names, their royal title, and a nickname describing their rule).

It's definitely a good quality show, and I really recommend a watch.
Image (top to bottom, and left to right): Keiki, Shoryu (king of En), Aozaru (the spirit of Youko's sword's scabbard), Kourin (Kirin of Kou), Enki (Kirin of En), Rakushun, Yuka, Youko, and Asano.