Wunsch des Herzens

Hirokazu Soul Calibur IV

2008-07-07T18:00:00.000-04:00

OH YEAH!!! Design is okay nothing great or special. Definitely giving me Mashiro Child vibes. Anyways, SC IV is gonna be a sweet looking, fanservice heavy, unbalanced, broken and shitty fighting game! ^_^. so sad so sad, well, that's what SC 1 and even SC 2 is for (maybe even SE).

They will be mine, oh yesh, they will be mine

2008-07-01T14:48:00.001-04:00

First up, it's Canada Day. So Happy Canada Day to all the Canadians out there. The My-ZHiME site made an update today w/ a preview of vol.2. So can't wait. the My-ZHiME S.ifr site made some update w/ new pics. Also it seems that the so called 'new project' isn't an anime but a novel. I'm kinda down but pleased all the same as a novel saves me much more money than an anime series.

Speaking of novels it seems that the release date for the 舞-HiME★DESTINY ~龍の巫女~ vol.2 is August 1st. So yeah, I'll be getting my hands on that of course. However, I AM debating on whether I should combine it w/ my My-ZHiME S.ifr #2 order. Lastly, the site also revealed some figures of Rena from S.ifr. Since I'm so not up to date on figure news, this is new to me. The 9800 yen figure is of no interest to me (meh looks and retarded price), however, I'm really contemplating about getting the Rena swimsuit figure. If I do, it'd be my first figure in 2 years. I guess the deciding factor will be the finished quality and price. Really would want the mail in order DX version as it comes with a Hisayuki telephone card. Oh well, we'll see.

Oh yesh! Summer 2008 is here, time to shed some skin

2008-06-28T15:38:00.002-04:00

How's it going all? nothing happening too much, sort of a long weekend (depending where you work and your company policies) going on as Canada Day is on Tuesday. Preparations are going smoothly if anybody's wondering. Haven't made any big purchases in the otaku world. I DID buy MGS 4 LE and anybody who is a fan needs to play/watch it :P. July's gonna be good as My Otome S.ifr vol.2 finally comes out. I totally can't wait! I already can't wait for vol.3 as that's been pre-ordered a month ago. Release date is for Nov.21 if anybody didn't know. I may or may not have a huge 'stuff' pic in July. We'll see, it depends on if I have the extra dough. So yeah, enjoy the yummy pics (mostly from latest issue of megami). The selections are obviously the shows I dig/dug and will dig.

好き Tsukiumi

2008-06-24T18:47:00.001-04:00

Breast of the Breasts

2008-05-31T14:15:00.004-04:00

was too lazy to clean up the scan

mmm...bouncy

Somewhat of a busty post to end the month. Things have been settling down with me. The big day has been set for middle of August. So I can rest a bit easy until then. Anyways, just wanted to show a pic of some shit I got a couple of weeks ago that I mentioned about. Mangas are somewhat 'new' since they're HK editions and not JPN tanks (which come out a month before HK volumes), except for TenTen. HK TenTen comes out 2-4 months after JPN releases.

It's the usual stuff that I've been collecting Bleach HTS 5 + Blanket (PSP), Bleach 32 (HK), Naruto 41 (HK) and Tenjo Tenge 18 (HK).
Only thing that's out of my usual stuff is Dragon Fly vol.1 by Shigeki Maeshima. It's essentially a compilation of the Dragonfly comics in Range Murata's Robot series. So, the paper quality is nice, the art is large and coloured. Sweet deal IMO. I only bought Robot vol.1, so it was nice to see where the story was heading. Actually, I have no idea where the story is heading cuz there's so many characters and it jumps from different time periods to time periods in a weird order :P. Definitely recommend it for the art as Maeshima is awesome. Looking forward to the 5 Killers. Da 'Bomb'!

Yeah, the overwhelming boobs in this post might be kinda off-putting, but then my blog has always centered around that. Summer shows I'm excited for (but probably won't follow) Ikkitousen Great Guardians (preordered Eloquent Fist LE...so sad) and Sekirei. This isn't too much of a surprise I guess as I've been a longtime fan of both series in manga form. Oh yesh Tsukiumi oh yesh...can't wait for your turn in Megami.

I wanna check out Blade of the Immortal too, having read that years ago. Speaking of new anime, saw this this morning when the HiME site updated. A new "My/Mai" series?....oh no....my wallet...^^

Think it's called Mao/My-ou according to my crappy University JPN skills

As for games, aside from the recently acquired HTS5, haven't been playing much. Got back in to 3S and just started Mugen no Frontier SRT OG Saga a couple of days ago. Also, finally continuing Ar Tonelico 2 that I stopped back in Oct/Nov.

Haven't picked up a a next gen console yet as I've been planning financially for the future, but I'm sure I'll pick up a PS3 soon as MGS4 comes out next month and I want to get a bundle w/ DS3 instead of a system w/ the 6Axis.

So yeah, guess you're caught up on what little is remaining of my so-called geeky otaku life. Peace.

P.S. Since y'all know I'm a huge Sano Toshihide and Happoubi Jin fan, HCGs for Majodou and Kanojo x Kanojo x Kanojo are awesome as expected. Go get'em ;)

mmm...more bouncy

Victoria

2008-05-19T19:18:00.001-04:00

Being that it's Victoria Day today in Canada (a public holiday), I got a little bit of free time to post. What to post? nothing really. been busy as hell. haven't been following any anime, just been watching movies (ie. Iron Man, Speed Racer and Indy will be next week) whenever I got the time. I should be expecting some things either this week or next week. Nothing big, just usual stuff that I order that shouldn't surprise any. Anyways, just felt like posting some pics ^^. Peace.

Hot Wheels

2008-04-27T19:28:00.002-04:00

Nothing much. Got a few items this past week. Not a whole lot worth mentioning about IMO.

Items are Persona 3 Fes US version (can't wait for P4 in a couple of months...OBVIOUSLY), Ryu Final vol.2 (Eng.) and of course Mario Kart Wii. Once I get the online setup for it, add my friend code (when I post it). Hopefully, I'll see you online ;). Peace.

Wii Friend Code for Mario Kart: 3093-7487-6363 - Armalite_8

All About ZHiME & Artbooks

2008-04-02T21:18:00.003-04:00

Finally, the post I've been wanting to post for more than a month. If you haven't already noticed w/ a couple of my last posts/pics (aside from the My-ZHiME S.ifr post). I got some items before and after Christmas. But most were after Xmas. None were gifts, since I would got more 'practical' stuff this year. Anyways, just some the very late and latest stuff I got, since I don't get too much anime-related stuff each month now. Yup, you know me....artbooks galore!

My-ZHiME Graph Premium (!)
Ryu Final vol.1 (E)
Appleseed EX MACHINA 2D SE (R1)
Kite Liberator (R1)
Purgatory Kabuki vol.1 (E)
Change 123 vol.7 (J)
Black Lagoon vol.7 (HK)
Until Death Do Us Part vol. 6 (J)
Manyuu Hikencho vol.2 (J)
Hiderou Horibe Colors Artbook (!!)
All About Capcom
Art of Gyakuten Saiban
Yoko Portraits Artbook (!!)
Cloud 1 + Special DVD
Uno! Uno Makoto Artworks (!!)
Crisis Core FFVII PSP + Shinra UMD Case

So that's the list. I'll probably post some pics or scans from some of the artbooks in the future just for the hell of it. No promises since I'm a busy man. If anyone wants info on any of the items, lemme know. Some comments I want to make, Change 123: Absolutely love the cover since Fujiko's always been my fave. Kite Liberator: Pretty meh, didn't like how some things were left unresolved, didn't mind the abrupt ending. CCFF7: I got a lot of other games but only bothered showing CC cuz if one doesn't remember, I got the Japanese version last Sept., not too long after it's release. Finished it in Dec. I probably won't play this till much later. Only reason why I got it is to listen to the Eng. voices and I guess support SE ...again.

Anyways, The biggie and the one I'll go into detail is Otome Graph Premium book. The book is a major disappointment. There's hardly any new work at all. Maybe one or two that I think I haven't seen that are worth a mention. All promo images are various artworks seen from past mags, which is why I didn't take a photo of any spread from the beginning of the book (where most new artworks usually go in these kind of books). Like the previous books (Idol, Scoop, Graph), Premium gives quick details and brief summaries on some of the characters and the Series. In this case, My-ZHiME and My-ZHiME Zwei. There's a little bit on S.ifr for those wondering. Aside from the usual interviews w/ staff and cast, there's some stories and some panels of comics that are quite funny & entertaining. The best thing in Premium is some of the production sketches, most are old and ripped from the DVD booklets and novels (ie. Destiny, since zero non-Japanese fans purchased them....except me :P). There's a neat section detailing on the Meisters and their elements. The pics for that section are from Hisayuki's site & Graph if one has a good memory. Best part of the production sketches is the My★Maid section (For those who didn't know, My★Maid was announced not too long after My-HiME ended, it was the supposed sequel, this name was then changed to what we know now as My-Otome), which shows what some of the characters looked like had they decided to go in this direction. You can see the evolution. Arika's roommates were suppose to be this Sara Gallagher look-alike, Chris/Cris and Shiori (who kinda resembles Shion). The maid outfits/robes had their respective element symbols (ie. Mai's signature flame symbol, Natsuki had an ice symbol). There's also a cool sketch of Mai in a Vega (from Dendoh) style outfit. It's not really Vega but more like a hybrid of Vega and Sara's (Otome) outfit.

So in the end, Premium is probably the crappiest of the four as you don't get much new and exclusive artwork for you buck. Being the greatest HiME, ZHiME and Hisayuki fan, I took the plunge for you other fans. Latz.

New ZHiME OVA is 'Overloding' w/ 'Syphilis' and Win

2008-02-22T20:18:00.006-05:00

So I hope y'all have watched S.ifr as this post will contain some spoilers. If you don't get the Syphilis part well, if you watched S.ifr and just listen to the characters say Sifr's name. It sounds like an attempted engrish Syphilis at times...to me, maybe I'm high ^^. Either way, it just makes me laugh almost everytime i hear them say..."See/shee-fuu-ruu". Or you can associate it w/ the yuri that goes on :P.

So yeah, episode 1 was amazing w/ good combo of fanservice in all categories: action, comedy, boobs (fuck yeah lena, no thank you Sifr), some drama, yuri, homages. Hisayuki, you are definitely my hero. Great job as director and really dug Lena using the Lofty Crimson Jade/Ayane robe [which I showed from the novels oh sooo long ago (1/NSFW), (2)]. Love the ED credit image w/ old and new charas.

The DVD arrived today and even though I watched it thrice yesterday, I gave the DVD a go w/ 2 more viewings. Thus, showing how much I'm loving it. However, Sifr is killing me. She's too annoying, first viewing was okay but it grated on me in the subsequent watches. She's too much like Arika (not that I hate Arika mind you) and they're not related...wtf, so don't give me that she passed it down bullshit as S.ifr is an afterthought of the series. But I'm just hating her as she's 'copying' Arika's charm.

SO, yeah, DVD is your standard stuff, there's no FP or LE. Standard DVD only and the booklet doesn't contain any new concept art that the official site and other sites have shown you save maybe for Lena in Lofty Crimson Jade robe.

As you can see, I also got the 舞-乙HiME Dream Box from last month. The box is kinda boring to look at. Chipboard quality. It houses 3 DVD cases.
The fan disc doesn't include an insert of any kind. The ZHiME movie doesn't inlcude a booklet but houses a pack of postcards featuring the R2 covers.

The ZHiME Zwei movie is the same. Just postcards of the R2 covers but has 2 extra postcards that were promo images during Zwei's release.

That's it for now, next post I'll show ya the otaku stuff I got over the past couple of months I've been away for. Nothing too exciting I guess.

"Change" is good

2008-02-20T20:32:00.001-05:00

Just some more 'hints'.

Busy as ever

2008-02-18T08:30:00.004-05:00

Unlike Yoko in this post, who's relaxin'. Well, first I want to wish all a Happy New Year, Happy Chinese New Year and Happy Valentine's Day since I haven't posted for almost 2 months. Been occupied with life y'know. If anybody cares (I'm sure there isn't), I've been busy w/ my fiancée picking the 'date'. Yes, it's happening this year.....(!!!!). Not only that, we bought a new house (a single house, 3 bedroom). Yeah, I'm excited and scared. It won't be finished until late summer when we move in.

So the reason why I've finally decided to post today is cuz there's a new holiday today in Canada (specifically the province of Ontario) called "Family Day". Thus, I had the time today to make a quick post. I hope to make some posts a bit more frequently, but it's hard to say. As in the past several months, I'm not really watching any anime, but still purchasing Japanese geek related stuff ^^. If this post is any indication, I'm sure you can guess what I got recently ;). I hope to make a post on some stuff I got before and after Christmas. You won't see games though, as that's been too much :P. With My-Otome 0 ~S.ifr~ coming out this week, you can be sure that the biggest/greatest My-HiME / My-Otome / Hisayuki Hirokazu fan will make a post ^^. Though I've been floating around posting a couple of scans on CHN forums. Anyways, hopefully I'm lucky and will get the actual DVD this week.

All I want for Christmas is two ...

2007-12-24T12:50:00.002-05:00

Just wanna wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The lack of pictures is mainly due being busy w/ parties and gift exchanges. I'm also getting lazy now at scouting for Christmas images :P. So anyways, currently at my fiancée's place for dinner tonight and tomorrow, will be going home for dinner @ my place. So hope y'all have a safe and happy holidays. Enjoy.

Oh 舞!

2007-11-28T23:50:00.004-05:00

So Wii game of the week is....no game. Didn't get a Wii game this week since I'm not interested in any upcoming Wii games till Smash Bros. I'm going back to my 1000+ DS game backlog and just started FFXII Revenant Wings and DQ IV (JP). And yeah, I already finished Trauma Center 2 and RETUC. However, I did get some anime & manga items this week. Pic shown in the end.

Anyways, this post is a continuation of my orgy some weeks ago. This time, I'll cover the HiME/Otome/Hisayuki stuff. First I'll cover the My-HiME & My-ZHiME My Collection book.

The book is 160 pages and basically, if you own the previous HiME/ZHiME artbooks, guidebooks etc, then this is essentially the same but updated w/ some new info. It's the most complete (so far) of guides since it covers almost all the novels, comics, games, figures and other media formats that the "Mai" franchise has been released. It covers Mai-HiME, My-ZHiME and My-ZHiME Zwei. Production sketches are included but they're all old as they've been featured in the DVD booklets and other books before. Only the Yuna+Mashiro-Child is new as that's not even in DVD 4. Some ppl may find the prototype sketches of My-HiME to be new, but it's very old as those images were floating around before the show aired (and later some were put in the guide mooks), oh yes I got them way back then ^^. The gallery section is small for each franchise is small, and does contain a few artworks that has not been compiled in a book before (ie. Hisayuki figure packaging art, clocks, jewelry etc.). It's only a handful. However, there is ZERO new artwork (aside from the cover) that yours truly has not seen before this book. So, if you're a casual fan of the series, it's a pretty good guide to get you caught up. If you're a mega fan like me and own basically almost every print of the series, then not much is new. the Destiny section contains artwork from chapters published in キャラの, and few from anime mags, for those wondering. All in all a decent book.

The My-HiME Destiny novel...I haven't read it due to having zero time and limited JPN skills. What I can tell you is that it contains a few artwork exclusive to the novel like the other HiME/ZHiME novels. All artwork is done by Sankichi Meguro (artist of the novels and one of my fave artists as I've been following her Teizokurei Daydream art for years). The only Hisayuki work included are the old design sketches of Mayo and Shion.

Now for Queen's Blade Claudette. Well, as I mentioned before, I got this book only cuz she was designed by Hisayuki Hirokazu. So, it's just like the first Queen's Blade book Rena, interior action pic art is done by another artist. Very gratuitous, demeaning and yummy shots are shown. Not bad not bad.

Just wanna show off how I displayed my Zwei figs.

Finally, this is what I got this week, as mix of old and new. Animes are all R1s and include Paprika, Burst Angel OVA and El Hazard The Magnificent World (cheap re-release). Then there's UDON's Sakura Ganbaru mangas 1 & 2. Cover art is done exclusively by Omar Dogan. I would've been happier if they had included the original Sakura Ganbaru covers by Nakahira Masahiko.

Sexual Healing

2007-11-21T23:30:00.001-05:00

Wii game of this week is Trauma Center New Blood. Can't believe that it's just been a little over a year since I got my Wii & Trauma Center Second Opinion on launch date. Perfect timing to get back to my surgical skills. I'll get back to focusing on my fall orgy in the next post as I need to "let the rhythm guide my soul"...WTF? ^^.
Anyways, just want to wish any American readers a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow and hope you score some sweet deals on Black Friday.

Passing Wind?

2007-11-14T23:08:00.006-05:00

So here's the first item that I'm going in-depth after my fall orgy. As mentioned, I'm doing it this way due to distractions in life...and my overall laziness. The first item, I'm gonna go over is the Shining Wind Visual Collection of Visual Materials in which I had preordered way back in July. Luckily, I obtained scans from the book about a week after it's street date, thus, the wait wasn't too unbearable. Also, moyism gave his two cents on this book along w/ some nice photos months ago. I'll just give my take on the book and include some nicer pics....scans ^^. Note that scans are from the CHN version of the book but it's mostly the same.

The book is 160 pages and A4 size. The cover and pages have a glossy and shiny finish. Thus, indicating good quality for an artbook. The book is mainly split in 3 sections. 1/4 of the book is dedicated to awesome images for the game. So you get promo art for magazines, telephone cards and the like. The other images are events from the game.

Nearly 1/2 of the book is mainly dedicated to the characters in the game. With information on the characters as well as design notes.

The last half contains misc. info on the game. There's an interview. Artwork and info on the world of Leaveria, such as landscape and minor characters. Weapons art is also contained in this section along w/ some details on the some anime scenes. But I'll only show one worthy pic ;).

So should you pass on this wind? well, if you have even the slightest interest in T2's art or are a fan of the game, then this is a no brainer. People who have a fancy of collecting artbooks but may not necessarily be T2 fanatics would also do no wrong, as the book is of great quality for the price you're paying. It's actually the best artbook in the my order cuz not only was it cheaper than most of them but contained more art and was just of higher quality in general. I pretty much have the same sentiments as moy did and can't recommend this book enough. Definitely worth the buy.

Lastly, just want to show off Hisayuki's new site artwork (which I did already at the My-HiME/My-Otome animesuki forums). That's Elliot from S.ifr and the Subaru isn't anything new as Hisayuki did a drawing of Mai and Arika in Subaru racing gear for a fig.

Oh and of course, I bought Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles today ;).

A Return to Orgasmic Proportions

2007-11-08T00:00:00.005-05:00

My Amazon Japan package finally arrived after my many months of hyping. First time I went thru Fedex w/ them. Still got hit w/ customs but packaged seemed to be safe and intact. The box was quite huge and weighed 10 lbs. Anyways, as per usual, the items in the box were filled with Hisayuki/My-HiME/My-Otome swag and artbooks galore. I think I mentioned before that I hardly buy anime series DVDs now. I'll mostly be collecting R2s of any HiME/ZHiME/whatever-Hime/Hisayuki related anime items and a few anime movies. There are 2 anime series that are licensed for R1 that I may (or may not) buy in the future.

So items shown above include Ripe Sano Toshihide Artworks, Sano Toshihide Illustrations (since 'y'allready' know I'm a huge Sano fan), Shining Wind Collection of Visual Materials (since y'all know I'm also a huge T2 fan), Sekirei Engagement (cuz y'all didn't know I'm a Sekirei & Sakurako Gokurakuin fan), R2 My~ZHiME Zwei Limited Edition vol.4, My~HiME Destiny Ryu no Miko novel, My:HiME & My:Otome My Collection mook (since y'all know I'm the greatest HiME/ZHiME fan), Queen's Blade Claudette (cuz y'all know I'm the biggest Hisayuki Hirokazu fan), Nuye Kagami Visual Works (because you all should've known that I'm huge Kagami/Utility-pole Spirit fan) and R3 Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo Limited Edition DVD (cuz y'all didn't know i dug the movie and have always been a huge Yoshiyuki Sadamoto fan).
Well, unlike other orgy posts, I won't go into details of all the artbooks and items...for now. I'm gonna leave 'em for a future post (which I hope is soon as I'm always busy now). But here's a sample of the goodness to come courtesy of the Shining Wind Visual Materials book (scans were obtained months ago, like hell I'd scan mine :P).

To Dress Up

2007-10-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

Or not to dress up, which will you do? Anyways, I'm personally going to a Halloween party. Hope y'all have a good one on this very commercialized day. I got a couple of goodies to fit this costume filled day of the dead ;).

And yes I HAVE been playing recent games like Ar Tonelico 2: Sekai ni Hibiku Shoujotachi no Metafalica for the PS2 (btw OST and Hymmnos CDs are meh compared to the Sekai no Owari de Utai Tsuzukeru Shoujo/Elernia), Code Geass Hangyaku no Lelouch AND Gurren Lagann for the NDS, as well as ALL other NDS games that are released every week :P ^^.

BEST NEWS IN AGES!!!!!

2007-10-17T20:00:00.000-04:00

What perfect timing, just as I've been practicing 3S again for the past 2-3 months! Despite the cool CG movie, I hope it'll still be 2D w/ AMAZING ANIMATION! After 8 years, there's still no 2D fighting game that has surpassed 3S in terms of graphics and animation (GGX series has 'hi-res' sprites but it contains less animation and not nearly as fluid as 3S).

Big 2

2007-10-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

Well today marks 2 years that I've kept this blog running. Don't know how much longer it'll be since I have been moving on w/ the motions in life (finishing school, getting a full time job, getting engaged, a house is on the way). I hardly watch anime now or follow any anime news, w/ the exception of the 舞-series and Hisayuki related works). In the world of otaku geekdom, I mainly stick to a few mangas, artbooks, gaming news and gaming itself. So w/out further ado, some pics w/ some of my fave hotties like the traditional Pinder and Marsh. funny how much nude shots Pinder has done now after teasing for SO LONG. As for Marsh, she'll be an uber hot mommy in a couple of months. If you're a fan of the two hotties, then you would've gotten the June issue of Nuts and last month's Maxim(UK) mag ;).

and of course, since I'm the renowned HiME/ZHiME/Hisayuki fanboy, I present another piece of art that's been presented to me. From Otome 0~S.ifr~:

Oh yes, this has been preordered a while ago, along w/ the ZHiME/ZHiME Zwei DREAM☆BOX ;).

The Art of Yasushi Suzuki

2007-09-28T00:00:00.000-04:00

With the release of Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth for Virtual Console in EU (and already released in JPN) today (where's the NA one dammit), I decided to do this little post on this item I got during the summer, The Art of Yasushi Suzuki artbook.

Before I begin, lemme just mention that I first played Sin and Punishment on my cousin's Nintendo 64. It was a very fun game that I love and dug, due to the fact that I enjoy most of Treasure's games anyways. A couple of years later, I played it on my computer in emulation form. Once again, I enjoyed replaying it, though graphically, it's pretty crappy nowadays, still fun though. One of the main features that grabbed me back then (in 2000/2001) was the artwork and character designs and that is when I was introduced to Yasushi Suzuki and became a fan of his artwork.

oh yeah! my subscription to Gamer's Republic had a cover feature on Sin and Punishment! Yes I'm hardcore I know! Note: the editor (Dave Halverson) of GR was the editor for Gamefan and currently Play Magazine, all these mags are kinda JPN fanboys as they cover anime and a lot of import games.

So the artbook is about 80+ pages in total, w/ about 70 pages of artwork. The rest consist of interviews, comment (by Dave Halverson...how surprising...not), mini bio and a thumbnail gallery of the art featured. The book retails for about $27 US or $32.50 CDN. That's the official price on the back of the book at the time (May 2007) With the CDN dollar being just about on par the American dollar, that price stamped on the back is useless and misguiding. The book can be purchased very cheap, it's currently selling for $17.70 at Amazon and even (slightly) cheaper at Amazon.ca for 16.99. I preordered mine when it was $12.00 CDN...sweeet.

Anyways, the artbook is the first of Yasushi Suzuki and it collects 10 years of his works. He specifically chose the artwork for this artbook. The book is being distributed by DrMaster Publications, which is an American company that publishes mostly manga & manhwa that they've acquired. What's also cool, is that DrMaster will be publishing Suzuki's first full-length manga, Purgatory Kabuki, hence this artbook. I'll have coverage on Purgatory Kabuki once I get it near the end of the year. So yeah, NA fans are lucky as it's an NA company releasing this stuff instead of the usual JPN companies. However, if JPN fans of Suzuki was interested, in this book, they can also buy, since the artbook contains JPN text for all interviews, comments and bio.

The books contains a lot of artwork I'm sure people are not familiar with. They include mostly novels, (mini) comics, card, original illustrations. There's only 2 Sin and Punishment artwork (as shown). The art featured the most would be Ikaruga. While I like Ikaruga's art, it's not my style (a lot of mech) and the character illustrations pales to his other works (but still good compared to other artists). Purgatory Kabuki, gets a page of chara designs, which is a nice preview I guess.

Personally, I don't think the book is worth the $27 dollars it retails for. I'd definitely say it's worth the $17 dollars. The book is very nice and very good quality. The art is sick and it's the only artbook of Yasushi Suzuki. Is it worth it? Hard to say, his style is an acquired taste.

Current Status: in a Lite Crisis

2007-09-25T00:00:00.000-04:00

So yeah, I finally got my DS lite that I mentioned oh so many moons ago.

Now, I can finally play the few DS games I actually bought beforehand. Not only that, this DS lite is special. It's modded so I can play every single DS game. So yeah, I'll be playing ASH, DQ IV, etc in very short time. Currently replaying Gyakuten Saiban 3 (or PW Trials & Tribulation as once again the Eng version is included) as I've played it on the GBA years ago. It was also a deal, got the brand new DS lite + the mod = 160 bucks Canadian ^^. As you can see, I got Crisis Core FF VII for the PSP as well. I'm sure I mentioned that I'm somewhat of a FFVII fan, so it was no surprised that I imported this like i did w/ Dirge (what a waste, but the CG movies were nice). If there were added FFVIII and FFVI games (not remakes) you can count on me buying regardless of quality as they're my faves. FFVII ranks third in my FF list (IV is fourth if ppl are wondering).

Next post will be one of the items I didn't show in my "Summer treats" post. It will coincide w/ something special this week. Though it 'just' came out in JPN.

Ultra Slim Fast

2007-09-17T23:22:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, I bought the Daxter silver PSP-2000/slim pack as well as component cables. I'm not gonna do a super comprehensive comparison as you can find it on so many sites now. I do have to say that it's pretty sweet like the DS lite, as the feel is very nice. It's crazy how much lighter it is and the directional buttons are a huge improvement. Fighting games are now actually more responsive, but still feels weird cuz I'm not playing on a stick. Hooking up to the HDTV was nice and easy. It was cool playing some games on the TV (though it doesn't fill up the entire TV screen) as it's progressive scan. Only thing I don't like is that my save files for certain games don't work on the PSP-2000 cuz those saves are only recognized by the original PSP. Thus, games that have online ranking (Tekken DR, DJ MAX 2) must be replayed on the Slim, to have everything unlocked. So, it's not really the PSP's fault. So if one of you haven't gotten a PSP yet and were thinking about it, I'd definitely recommend. If you already have one, it may be not be worth it unless you're into the TV output. As for homebrew...well that's another topic.

Summer Treats

2007-09-12T21:20:00.000-04:00

Wanted to post this earlier. My fave chick has always been ♥Fujiko♥ undoubtedly, with Hibiki being second. If you don't know who the ladies are, then lemme tell ya: (l to r) Mikiri, Hibiki, Motoko and Fujiko<-♥. Anyways, here's some of the stuff that arrived during the summer while I was gone to Europe. It's all old stuff now. I have a few more items that I got but I'll give 'em a dedicated post. So here's the rundown of stuff. Masahiko Nakahira's Street Fighter Alpha vol.2 manga (released by UDON...hint hint ;)), Lives vol.2 (JPN), Change 123 vol.5 (JPN), Until Death Do Us Part vol.5 (JPN), High School of the Dead vol.2 (JPN), Ukigumo Momojinden vol.4 (JPN), Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society Limited Edition (R1), Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man (2-disc HK R3), Blue Dragon Complete Guide (CHN) and Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid vol.2-4 (R1).

Yeah, I got FMP:TSR late only cuz I seen it already and getting these volumes together (so late) cost me only about $15 (CDN) a piece. Watching it English and hearing Allison Keith (Melissa) trying to speak Cantonese is just as funny (and bad) hearing Neya Michiko. The English ADR director didn't even try to get the actors to pronounce it right. They simply copied the horrible (& funny) JPN seiyuus enunciations. So yeah, nothing really out of the blue in my swag as it's the same old items that I've continued to get. My GitS: SAC collecting seems to be done for now. I didn't even know that there's gonna be a R1 Laughing Man. Meh, the R3 costs much cheaper and is exact replica of the R2 w/ added Cantonese track, CHN & ENG subs. I won't be getting the Individual 11 'movie' cuz I didn't like the story as much and there's nothing added (as I saw it and had it on my computer a year ago). I'll have another post soon. An update on my Amazon Japan order: increased once again w/ the addition of My-HiME★DESTINY Prison Cast a couple of days ago ^^;. And yes I can't wait to get my hands on this...soon very soon.

I AM HiME/ZHiME/Hisayuki god

2007-09-08T09:41:00.000-04:00

I'll make an actual noteworthy post later, but just want to show off the latest Hisayuki/My-HiME/My-Otome artwork from a couple of days ago. Above being from Hisayuki's site obviously and below is my much anticipated 舞-HiME&舞-乙HiME MY COLLECTION that I let y'all know about ;).

Have YOU been Corrupted?

2007-08-28T22:18:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so I lied (about not updating till THE order), no surprise. However, there's been a change to THE order. I've delayed my order to October. Why? Well as the BIGGEST My~HiME/My~ZHiME/Hisayuki Hirokazu fan, I preordered the 舞-HiME & 舞-乙HiME MY COLLECTION book when it went up yesterday (At AJ as well as Mangaoh etc.), which I'm sure nobody knows about (well mainly the English speaking blogs/forums I've been to). It comes out end of Sept/beg. of Oct. Also, the 舞-HiME★DESTINY drama CD & Cyber Forumla 4 (for the PS2) both come out in October. All the more reason to delay (and of course I'm getting the Hisayuki-designed cover art of Claudette from Queen's Blade which is to be released also in Oct.). Though I won't get this game at AJ of course (can't obviously). Oh yeah, this game won't have Hisayuki exclusive designs/characters. It's another amalgam of the story but looks to be more emphasis on the anime storyline w/out the PS2 charas & teams. ANYWAYS, back to topic, yeah, due to the hype from the past couple of weeks. I gave in and bought Metroid Prime 3: Corruption today (oh lovely Samus, who can resist?).

I've only played Prime 1 and was never really fond of it. Of course I only played about an hour or so on my cousin's NGC back then. I also bought this game cuz I haven't played my Wii in months. So is this game worth all the hype and good reviews? Well from the 2 hours I played today...DEFINITELY!! Personally, I don't really care about the storyline, which is why I will never bother playing MP1 and Echoes. It's all about the gameplay and what the media said is true. This baby controls almost as smooth as butter. Advanced controls is definitely where it's at. The action is so awesome in this game. Some of the boss fights have been sick and I can't wait for the later ones. If you have a Wii, then you should or MUST get this game.

HiME/ZHiME collecting days still not over...

2007-08-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

with 舞-乙HiME S.ifl(マイオトメシフル). FUCK! ^^. Basically the confirmed prequel that talks about the 5 previous pillars. As you can see, there's Lena and young Maria. I don't know about the destiny characters in the pic as i haven't watched it as of this writing.

anyways, next post will most likely have the actual dvd and other junk. Later.

Persona-fied

2007-08-18T08:28:00.001-04:00

Probably wasn't expecting a post so soon right? Well, I'd figured I'd do this mini post since my big AJ order won't be coming in till September since there's an item that I want that gets released at the end of August in Japan. So yeah, that means I won't get the actual Zwei DVD until then :(. Anyways, I decided to takes some pics of Persona 3/P3 or how Atlus USA wants us to call (in NA at least) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3. I got this on Thursday and was too lazy to take pics until this morning. Ppl who've known me and my gaming preferences, might remember that this game was my most anticipated RPG of 2006 (yes much moreso than FFXII). I was definitely not disappointed and it was probably my fave RPG of last year. I dig the whole anime sim it's got. I haven't finished FES yet and don't know when I'll get the drive. I decided to double dip on this cuz Mitsuru: "I wuv U...in English too", but seriously, I got it to support Atlus USA in bringing out awesome niche games and the package was really enticing, especially the artbook. I had skipped out the official Art of Persona 3 artbook (JPN) because of funds at the time and it wasn't "high priority" on my want list. Thus, it's been sitting in my cart since Dec. 2006. Another reason, is cuz I already have scans for the book. However, I finally remembered due to the NA release and included it in my upcoming AJ order ;). So on to the pics:

the gay box cover (gay due to the 'ipodness'), meh game cover (can't compare to the JPN one) and sweet artbook:

back covers (67 MB for a game save!!! :P):

The soundtrack CD is enclosed inside the artbook in a cheap paper envelope and not a CD jewel case that I was expecting. The track list is inside the instruction manual but there's no lyrics. It's only 1 disc contains 18 selected tracks (most of the good stuff) from the JPN OST (which has 58 tracks). If you really dig the music in this game (I did), I suggest you get the original Japanese soundtrack. It's 2 discs of aural pleasure.

The artbook is definitely the highlight of the package. It's a 52 page hardbound book. Very nice quality, though a little small. It feels like a series a fairy tale books I read as a kid. I made comparisons with the Japanese artbook in terms of artwork included. Well, to no surprise, the JPN was is superior. Though the US one contains a majority of the artwork in Art of P3 (JPN), it's still missing a few. It's minor stuff IMO. Minor characters like Chidori, Takeya etc. are given a headshot instead their full in-game art & expressions. Some minor characters are missing too. Main charas in-game art expressions are cropped to headshots as well, instead of full body. So yeah, minor nitpick, but just letting those know who are anal about this stuff like I'd be (hence why I'm picking up the JPN one as well).

I haven't played much of the English version yet, but localization is pretty good and it's always great to play a game in your first language. The English dub is superb. It matches the JPN seiyuus very closely. IMO, due to being a longtime anime watcher,the JPN dub is still better since you got uncomparable anime seiyuus like Mamiko Noto (!), Megumi Toyoguchi (!!) Maaya Sakamoto (!!!), Rie Tanaka (!!!!), etc. Still, the English dub is fantastic and it's unfair to compare. However, I'm still adjusting to the voices having played through it all in JPN and was acquainted with characters in that foreign tongue.

So yeah, if you dig anime & games, then this game is for you. Go buy it and hopefully they'll bring out Fes and sell it for 20 bucks....yeah...riiiighht.

From Paris w/ <3

2007-08-14T19:12:00.000-04:00

How's it going for all the handful of ppl who may still visit this blog. As mentioned in my last post, I went on vacation and headed for Europe this year. I went to England, France, Italy, Germany & Spain. I'm also an engaged man now as I proposed to my girlfriend at the City of Love. Yes, I'm unoriginal :P. Anyways, probably be a year or two before the actual wedding. For those who are wondering, I'm only 24. So at my age, that's considered young. But I've had my fair share of "playing around" w/ girls (High School was insane ^^) and I dig my girlfriend very much as we've been going out for 3 years now. Anyways, I received a few items since my absence, but I'll probably wait for my AJ order of My-ZHiME Zwei vol.4 (+ others) before taking a pic. So yeah, I'm back for now, but still hella busy w/ life ;).

Put on your RED &....

2007-07-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

Though I hope there was no "white" from seeing this hot pic of Kanu ;). Anyways, it's Canada Day, I'm decked out in my Red & White clothing. Also, I'm making this post from the Nation's Capital as it's my usual tradition to celebrate here. FIFA U-20 World Cup is also going on in Canada currently (started yesterday). Mainly want to see Argentina, so I'll be back in Ottawa on Friday for the double header with Argentina vs. Korea DPR and (shitty) Brazil vs. USA, as I got tickets...hyped. Lastly, for those wondering where I've been, well, as mentioned before in my last post, I've been hella busy. Currently going through the motions in life. Be taking a vacation in 2 weeks. Heading for Europe with my girlfriend. So don't expect much posting again for a while. I'll finish off with one of my fave Canadian hotties, who's decked out in WHITE (to complement my Kanu), Elisha Cuthbert.

Days of Busy

2007-06-14T21:01:00.001-04:00

Been busy as of late, hence the lack of updates. Work, house looking has sort of taking it's toll on me. My computer also crashed, so i lost some files in the progress >_>. Haven't watched any anime since zwei 3, though i've been getting some gaming backlog done. Recent games i finished include Odin Sphere (prolly make a post on that), Shining Wind, Bleach HtS 4, Samurai Champloo and Bully. I recently acquired God of War 2 for only 15 bucks CDN. Don't know when I'll start that as I'm not a huge GoW fan (and was gonna wait to get it when it turns Greatest Hits). Aside from my fighting games, game i've been playing most is Crush. If you got a PSP and even remotely like puzzle games, you must get. Screw that, if you have a psp you should just get this game even if you don't like puzzle games. And of course, I also got Days of Memories today, even though i said i wasn't going to. Since i don't have a DS, i've been playing it on my friend's. Can't say i know perfectly what's going on, but the art is good and all the chicks are yummy as expected. Also, yay for cleaner and non-separated pic above (for those who'd forgotten, i posted that pic before).

Recent game news that made headlines this week that interested me were: Soul Calibur 4 teaser (my Ivy's looking good, though, it took me awhile to get used to her in SC3, i hope they change her back due to many complaints); Soul Calibur Legends info (i'm a sucker for SC related stuff and Ivy playable? Sign me up any day); Tekken 5 DR online.....SICK (still, i can't be excited when lag happens...thus, arcades are still where the true and hardcore compete); Ace Combat 6 (looks fucking amazing, though i've only played AC 3 JPN cuz of the anime scenes); Hayashi's interview makes me wonder if all members of Team Ninja are arrogant idiots; KOF MI RA updates w/ 2 more movies (#5 & 6....still meh)

I've been lazy w/ Famitsu scores too, only ones that interested me this week was Ippo Revolution (25) and the much delayed Simoun (19). Both scored shitty. Meh, might still get Simoun as i enjoyed it's yuri-ness and art.

Best anime news i read about a week ago was obviously Rosario + Vampire being adapted to anime. Ppl who've known me knew I've been collecting/reading this manga for 2 -3 years now. I've already mentioned before on this blog that I've been waiting for it to be animated. Thus, another one of the many mangas that i read gets the green light and a bandwagon will soon follow. I feel so cool and superior again :P.

So that's the update for now. Who's gonna watch Fantastic 4: Rise of T-1000 tomorrow? Despite the shitty reviews, i'm just looking for some good Alba fanservice like the 1st one ;).

Time for Audition

2007-06-03T19:00:00.001-04:00

No, not Miike's Audition (as fucked up as it is, like most of his movies) but Audition Portable for the PSP. The game comes out tomorrow in Korea and i'll most likely be getting the actual game next week, but of course i'll probably be playing it tomorrow if the iso is out (since i can't bear the wait). Well, as always, I enjoy covering games that many ppl do not know about, so when I first heard about Audition Portable coming to the PSP (just a month ago), i was eager to find some info about it.

The game is like DJ Max Online/Portable, another music rhythm game that hails from Korea. Both games started out as a free online game (still is free but you need to pay for the premium stuff, the traditional asian online standard) and was/is later ported to the PSP. The company T3 Entertainment most likely saw the huge success of Pentavision's DJ Max Portable and wants to replicate the same success w/ it's own IP on the PSP.

So, it didn't take me long to register for Audition Online as the game was officially released in the North America just over 2 months ago by Nexon. However, one should note that Audition Online has been released in Korea and most East Asian countries for 1-2 years now. Though English language is featured in NA and some countries, you need certain accounts or IDs to access. For Canada, US and Mexico, one needs a Nexon passport (free) and a NA IP to access the game. Sorry Europeans, u guys can still play, you'll just have to work out the language barrier depending on the country's server you decide to go with (none of the free ones are in Eng.). Anyways, just of note that the NA Nexon Audition Online users have recently exceeded 100,000 users including yours truly. I've been playing it on and off for almost 3 weeks now, i'm at a lvl. 6 and I will not give out my online name as I currently suck :P.

Well, i'm not sure how many modes the PSP contains, i'm sure it'll contain all the single modes and most of the group modes. the key feature is that it'll feature online play so one can play online almost anywhere that has an internet connection. The game is your standard music rhythm game where you have to press the directions (and buttons, for the PSP) indicated on the screen. There's a little timer bar right above too, giving some pressure. One can choose from 4 keys or 8 keys in the online version. Audition is most similar to the Enix music rhythm game, Bust a Move/Bust a groove. Like Bust a Move/Groove, you see your character perform dance moves in front of you as you press the according buttons. Moves depend on song and level. Unlike Bust a Groove, not only can you play against 1 other but most dance battles are played in groups. Person who with the highest score, takes center stage and dances in front of everyone, until someone bests him/her out. The game can be a little easy for veterans of the genre but still challenging nonetheless, especially when online and you're facing really really good players.

The online aspect can get quite addicting as you can accessorize your dance character to your fancy. In order to do that you need to get Beats or Den, which is the currency used in the game (Beats is the name in the NA version, while Den is the official name). Beats/Den can be obtained through dance battles or purchased using real cash. The LE of Audition Portable not only includes a bunch of junk but 100,000 den. FYI, i didn't get the LE as i'm not interested in the swag 'cept for the soundtrack (which one can easily get soon afterwards, plus i already have most of the songs from the online games). I just personally didn't find any justification forking an extra 50 bucks on this one. Not only is the character customization addicting but like all online games, playing w/ others is most fun. The group battles are so much fun. The couples mode is a very interesting mode where you dance w/ another live partner online. In some versions of the game, if both of you are really good, it can lead to a wedding for your in game characters. Just don't take the couples mode TOO seriously ;).

No music game is any good w/out good music and Audition doesn't disappoint most of the time. There's a good mix of original songs and licensed songs (namely the Korean version and few other countries for the latter, in NA we get licensed crap like Hilary Duff but good stuff like 2XL). A good chunk of the songs are really good but the bad ones do stand out...sorely. The thing w/ Audition is that most songs are normal full length songs ranging 4-6 mins long. Though full length songs never feel long in other music games, in Audition, they FEEL VERY LONG. The reason for this, is the little breaks between pressing the directions and watching your character (and others) dance a bit. So it doesn't flow like most music games and doesn't feel as fast paced as Bust a Groove, even when you're watching your opponent doing his/her moves. So, imagine the torture having to play thru a shitty long song (Bust a Move/Groove songs range from 2-3 mins). The dance moves are animated very well and there's a great variety. However, when playing for umpteenth time, moves will start getting old to watch.

So, my final thoughts on Audition Online (and may as well count for Portable) are that it's an above average music rhythm game. The graphics are very good w/ a huge amount of fashion accessories but the facial features are meh. It's taken a cute-anime-Pinky fig-style which I was never fond of. It just looks weird (and scary) on proportioned characters. The background levels are pretty sparse and most of 'em are dull. Hopefully, the Audition Portable will remedy that. Other than those nitpicks, dance animations are superb and there's some good songs, fave is Canon Grove (cuz i luv Pachelbel's Canon in D in any form) and 2XL's Magic City. There's a bunch on the Korean soundtrack that i also dig (i wuv u lee hyori) but haven't played, obviously. I hope the PSP game will be like DJ Max Portable in which a good deal of the game is in English. Otherwise, it's gonna be a bitch going thru the game cuz unlike JPN games, where i have a decent knowledge of the language (thanks to Uni and my CHN background), i know fuck all of the Korean language. Thus, may have to rely on friends (and the internet of course). Language will play a key factor cuz there's a heavy emphasis online and if you're one who doesn't like playing games online w/ others, then you're not gonna get much out of this game. Single player will most likely not get you very far. Also, i'm expecting the cash system to be implemented like the online Audition where you can use real money to get in game currency (den). So, if you're one who doesn't like to play w/ ppl online, this game may not be for you. Though it may be a good start to play online, as i for one don't play much games online nor enjoy it (last game i played intensively online was Counter Strike, back in 02-03 :P). Thus, i don't see myself going very far w/ this game. For more info on the game as well as stuff i mentioned, check the wiki site. North American readers interested should check out some interviews IGN had w/ Nexon. Till next gaming gem.

yesh kanu yesh

April Orders makes Me/May poorer

2007-05-28T23:35:00.001-04:00

WARNING! this post is not safe for work.

Once again, after 3 months, another orgy arrives. I got the AJ order on Fri. but was too lazy to post. Anywho, I doubt I'll have much when August comes around, which is when the last and final volume of My:ZHiME Zwei is released. Also been starting to cut down on anime. Reason be, i've been saving to buy more ~~cool~~ useless car accessories (ie. shift knob, steering wheel, more lights and maybe a tach) and i'm probably getting a house w/ my girlfriend. One can only go so far w/ roomies.

So, stuff for this orgy is mostly the same old stuff you'd expect from me. The Hisayuki stuff contains My~ZHiME Zwei vol.3 Limited Edition, My-ZHiME Saga Ayane Hijyo Hen Novel and the Queen's Blade Anthology Comic. Also included is the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex Ultimate Archives book, Vampire Graphic File artbook, and Happobi jin's Sweet Body artbook. I included some US stuff cuz I just got them last week. As you can see, I got Odin Sphere (been a while since i got an Eng. game) and Afro Samurai Director's Cut. Most pics are shitty quality as i forgot to adjust the focus, thus, the pics are smaller than the size i usually set them to.

I already made comments on Zwei 3 content, but i'll present some pics of the content. Included is two pages of the very thin booklet, you can see 'Yuna' & the 'Guard Keeper'. I also included the swimsuit page that is on the website. On the bottom right, they show Arika's puberty development ^^. As for the Blue Sky Sapphire Arika fig. Man, i couldn't figure (pun not intended) out how to stand her up w/ the poles and base orz. Thus, i'm leaving her in the box, but not before taking a pic ;). I'm sure Digi will have a blast w/ this one ^^, or will prolly also leave it in the box.

The second Ayane novel, isn't anything special really. There's less art in this novel compared to Kourin. The new art by Tachibana Seven can be found here. While the Hisayuki Ayane Meister coloured robe can be found here. It's much better to link scans than my crappy photos :P. There's another Hisayuki newly designec character named Sheena. I got lazy and didn't take a pic, but i will provide this one spoilerific pic from the novel.

The Queen's Blade Anthology comic isn't anything special, it's just like other comic anthologies where you got a bunch of artists drawing random comics of the charas. You do have a couple of the QB artists contributing lif F.S. All the comics are pretty ecchi stuff but never too explicit (all nips are covered). Like I said, i mainly got this book solely for the Hisayuki Reina and Lena cover ^_^;;. Here's a F.S. sample:

Familiar readers know that i'm a huge Capcom/Fighting game/Kinu Nishimura fan. Though Kinu never contributed much art to the Vampire/Darkstalkers series, that cover grabbed instantly when I first saw it months ago. Of all the past (& present) Capcom artists, she is tied for first as my fave. And who is the other Capcom artist that I hold in very high regards? Bengus (aka CRMK) obviously . I love his stuff and varied styles. Most of the artwork is done by him and Ikeno. The Vampire Graphic File contains a lot of art from the Vampire series, too bad it doesn't contain all of 'em. Every character has their own section that showcases the chara's artwork, game sketches, their moves, in game art, endings, early design sketches (most are waayy weird and different). There's a chronological timeline and a section for many Vampie/Darkstalkers paraphenilia. The book is almost 150 pages. The paper quality is decent but not as thick as a 'bristol board' kind. Here's some samples:

They also added the UDON Darkstalkers comic covers.

Too bad this isn't anything special for me as I own the comics. The Darkstalkers vol.1 TPB also contains all of the above artwork in a bigger and better quality. The Vampire Graphic File doesn't even have the Darkstalkers TPB cover drawn by Shinkiro. Thus, I present it to you as I got it 2 years ago. If you're a fan, u must get this.

Once again, longtime readers know how much i love the GitS SAC series, and how much I love GitS SAC Kusanagi Motoko's design. Thus, it was a no brainer for me to get what could be the final GitS SAC guide/art book. The GitS SAC Ultimate Archives book is 1/4 artbook and 3/4 guide book. The paper quality is shit for the price you pay (3333 yen). It feels like shonen jump/telephone book paper. reinforcing that, is almost all the pages are black and white. Keep this in mind, that his book isn't released by Hobby Japan, which explains the difference in quality. The book is just over 200 pages and contains just about the same general info found from Hobby Japan's 3 GitS SAC books (2 of which i already covered). It contains the same old summaries (but w/ a few more details), production artwork (much less from the HJ books), pages of GitS swag and another interview w/ Kamiyama. What's good is that it compiles both seasons and the movie. I mainly got this book hoping to get a ton of promo art and clean versions of the DVD art, sadly i didn't get either. Well,i'm lying. There is a few promo art, but there's so little. What you do get is nice. Aside from that is the several pages of sketches taken directly from scenes in the anime. There's only around 4 pages for each series/movie. I wish there were more as they looked really cool. In the end, this book isn't really worth the money if you have the HJ books as there isn't much new to offer and the artwork is sparse. Then again, if you got all 3 HJ GitS SAC books, it prolly means you're a diehard GitS SAC fan like me and would buy this book regardless of it's expensive & shitty quality. Here's some samples:

I've been a longtime fan of Happobi jin works (my 2nd fave after Sano Toshihide). So imagine my hype when i found out that there was going to be an artbook featuring a ton of his past and new works. The Boin Best Selection artbook may be considered his first artbook, but I personally don't consider it. As awesome as that artbook is, it mostly featured CG art from the game. Though it did have a ton of promo art, guest art, cool design sketches and a nosebleeding poster, it's still just Boin (not a bad thing and i hope they do the same thing w/ Resort Boin).

The Sweet Body artbook kills Boin Selection w/ 127 pages of pure nosebleeding art. Yup, pure art and almost zero text. The book is split up into 3 sections. There's the original works which contains the bulk of the artworks. In this section, you mainly get artworks that Happo's done for Men's Young magazine as well as Mega Store. A bunch of promo art, artwork from his website and his doujin covers. The next section is Game works. Don't get too excited as it's mostly his old stuff from the '03 and '04. There's ZERO Boin & Resort Boin art here (or anywhere in this artbook). The art here isn't explicit but awesome nonetheless. The last section is the Other works which contains miscellaneous art like the Melty Blood pic. The paper quality of this artbook is high unlike GitS UA and VGF, as it's glossy and thick. This book is probably the highlight of the orgy.

NSFW samples:

3rd Zwei's the Charm

2007-05-23T21:31:00.000-04:00

Most ppl wouldn't think so. There's already been bitching, moaning, whining, cursing about the serie's pace and especially the fanservicey beginning. Y'know what, whatev, these ppl just don't appreciate what ZHiME really was. Like I mentioned before, the OVAs are fanserivce (this time x10) and if they wanted to tell a more serious story, they would've made a longer series out of it. It's a mix of genres and all the OVA episodes have delivered on that by combining those genres into each and every episode. While this doesn't sound good for the gay serious ppl, then i say too bad. While, ep.3 begins w/ yummy fanservice fluff, 3/4 of the episode progresses the story a bit more and shows hints at the possible links w/ My-HiME (ie. fuuka gakuen, nagi library & book, kagutsuchi sword). As for the presentation of the show. Pretty much the same if you've read my previous comments about the first 2. Slightly better animation this time than the previous OVAs though. You can tell in the fanservice scenes and the action scenes. Music...nothing new again except for the ED song (which sucks BTW). The fight scenes in this episode is the best so far since it's solely one on one. Though the fight w/ Nao is short, it's still much longer than the other ones and there's more attacks. She puts up more a fight than all the previous stoned characters that we saw. This fight brings potential for a awesome end fight, but U just know that Sunrise won't deliver on that front and will have everyone gang up. I seriously need some Natsuki, Mai and Midori action here. It also sux cuz they weren't involved in the boobie scene. I guess it's safer to ruin the image of minor secondary characters ^^. I would've like a Ahn bearing it all, as she was my fave in that group (damn arika's hands), but Rosalie will have to do (2nd of the group). The above previews shots show some promise w/ Natsuki getting her ass kicked by fake Fumi (yay, only cuz she might get some action) and Mai fighting (another yay). But like all the previous episode previews, they don't mean jack shit and mostly likely will not be making it in for the last episode. Expect action, friendship, boobies (at least a bounce) and silliness to ensue in the last and final episode. The solicitation was posted almost a week ago (in which i first posted at the suki board). It won't be any longer like many hoped it would be, unless they change it later. Anyways, expect to see my ZHiME/Hisayuki orgy soon as well as some of the other stuff i decided to pick up.

Original Post:
Well, looks like Sunrise has heard my bitching about some recent OVAs nowadays and finally given 乙HiME fans the TRUE and ULTIMATE FANSERVICE. ando from the suki forum has posted some caps of some glorious boobies w/ full nips intact (as well as Nao materializing). i haven't seen the episode yet but expect me to go ranting on this episode w/ my thoughts & impressions tomorrow. My AJ order that includes this just shipped, so if i'm lucky i should be getting the DVD on Fri, if not earlier.

so here's the NSFW 舞‐乙HiME Zwei nipples fanservice shot & here's the SFW Nao materializing scene.

Spice up your Life

2007-05-21T23:40:00.000-04:00

Well, to any of my fellow Canadians, i hope you enjoyed the long weekend. For those who don't know, this weekend was Victoria Day weekend, therefore i didn't have to work today. Thus, i've been drinking like no tomorrow since Friday night. As much fun as I had, it wasn't purdy (having puked twice). Heh, might go to the hospital tomorrow to check my liver X( :P. Thankfully, my lady friend took care of me, but she wasn't too impressed. Of course, i'll make it up to her...heehee.

Anyways, I just want to leave my impressions with a recent anime dvd-screener i watched last week. And that anime movie is of course, Paprika. Some may know that the movie is getting a Stateside premiere this weekend. So, you can say that this post is to hype it up. The following will contain SPOILERS, so if you don't want your experience totally ruined, don't read any further.

"It's the greatest show time!"

When Paprika was first announced, i was definitely hyped to see. Being a movie buff and anime geek, i couldn't wait to get my eyeballs on Satoshi Kon's latest. Satoshi Kon is my undoubtedly my fave anime director, simply cuz his works fuck w/ your mind. I love movies that fuck w/ my mind and makes you think. Charlie Kaufman movies is a good example. I can't wait for his directorial debut w/ Synecdoche!! So, like most of Kon's works, you know what you're gonna get.

How geeky are you?

Like his works before (save Tokyo Godfathers), Paprika's story always mixes reality w/ fantasy and making the characters within move back and forth between them. While Paprika isn't so much of a mindfuck as the great Perfect Blue (which i consider to be still his greatest work), it's still good shit.

Perfect Blue = luv

As always, the production values are gorgeous, and mainstay Madhouse delivers in the animation department once again. While it's not the best 2D animated movie or tries to push the medium (it looks about on par w/ Tokyo Godfathers, a movie made 3 years prior to Paprika), it does the job. Though i did notice one or two recycled scenes...WTF.

Tokyo Godfathers = good, but meh on Kon standards

The voice actors do a splendid job as they're mostly well known seiyuus. Though the performance was great, they were not much of a challenge or what you didn't expect from most of the actors. There will be 4 of main actors that I want to note.

First, Megumi Hayashibara does performs her role of Paprika and Atsuko Chiba w/ ease. It won't be anything special for fans of her, but her voice is always a delight to listen to IMO. Her Atsuko was meh, simply cuz the character itself is sorta boring. It is when she's playing as Paprika, that'll make you love Hayashibara all over again.

Atsuko looks like boring OL looking anime chick, but underneath = hawt

She wants to come in you...say what?

Akio Otsuka as always, is a good choice for burly manly roles. Doesn't do what he hasn't done perform but gives you the essence of Konakawa almost perfectly. He always reminds me of Satoshi Kon in real life due to their appearances :P.

Where's Waldo?

It's been a while since i've seen an anime w/ Tohru Furuya and Paprika presents a nice, different role from what he usually plays. His character, Tokita is the cliched ugly-fat but nice guy. And his voice does make you want to root for him sometimes. Other than that, i'm still reminded of Amuro & Mamoru.

Amuro Ray, Newtype

Last one is Kouichi Yamadera. Every role this guy delivers in spades. His role of Osanai is probably the best in the movie cuz it's so varied and all the expressions he had to make. His girly scream is fucking funny and awesome.

Togusa lost the mullet

The music. AWESOME. Having listened to it constantly back in Nov/Dec. it's another great one from Hirasawa Susumu. Though, it does contain some of his usual style, you can't help but to be captivated by his music and especially his very recognizable voice. Though all his music and vocals sound similar to most of his works ('cept for Orgun, which was a bit too slow), Paprika's music and vocals sound most similar to Millenium Actress as it contains that fast paced, techno but slightly hauntish tune, if you get my drift. Either way, i luv it.

Sennen Joyu revisited

While the content of Paprika is good, it certaintly wasn't Kon's best effort at bringing Tsutsui Yasutaka's (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo) story to life. First, I must say that once again, the opening credits is awesome and really hypes you up to see the movie as "Nigeru Mono" is played in the background. It is so cleverly presented that one who enjoys films and animation will appreciate it to a very high degree. Though Paprika brings the return of Kon's style of mixing reality and fantasy, it felt a little forced and incoherent at some points. The seesaw of reality and fantasy didn't flow as well as it did w/ Perfect Blue and especially Millenium Actress (which did a superb job as it was very heavy w/ that style). The ethics of invading one's dream or the justification of invading one's dream sounded a little dumb and confusing (The DC Mini device is fucked up). I felt it tried to be smart w/ it's reasoning when it didn't need to be. Rather than sounding smart, it came off kind of stupid. The best moments for me was the character development of Konakawa. His character is the most interesting as it brings a level of depth you'd see in most dramas. The others are a snore, and some would probably even hate Atsuko. The ending was good but not perfect. I loved the resolve of Konakawa and the final scene w/ him buying a movie ticket but the announcement of Atsuko changing her name to Tokita felt a little too forced to make it happy or Hollywood-ish. Though you know they end up together, their chemistry wasn't that great. While Atsuko realized her love for Tokita, he never really expressed it in the same manner. Even though it was indicated that he liked her, it was shown as if he liked her as a sister or respected her as colleague and friend. it was a simple fondness for her. Nothing truly deeper than that.

hmm...deja vu, still Luckee kee

Of his 4 movies, this one is considered his weakest IMO. Some would probably say that Tokyo Godfathers was his weakest, well it was until Paprika. Though TG didn't offer his usual style of fuckness, it did offer good characters and a fun adventure. Perfect Blue and Sennen Joyu offered a kickass story, style and awesome characters and remains the pinnacle of his movie works. Paprika, however fails to fall short on all those accounts. Though Paprika is by no means bad, I just hope his 5th movie will be good enough to surpass one his previous works accoring to my rankings. As it currently stands on my record, PB = Best (1st movie), SJ/MA = 2nd (2nd movie), TG = 3rd place (3rd movie) and now Paprika. So, it's going downhill right now. Anyways, Is Paprika worth your money to see and buy? I'd say a hearty yes, if you're a Kon fan or not, you'll simply enjoy this movie despite his meh plot and weirdness. You'll also love the music. The DVD (SE)/BD comes out this week in JPN. It's been rumoured that the French DVD (which comes out June 20) contains Eng. subtitles. However, it's not fully confirmed, so don't go making preorders yet. The French also get a Super-Box edition that contains a box (not as good looking as the JPN one), 760 page booklet and all the same goodies as the Japanese Special Edition. The French SE costs 49,99 euro. So if it is indeed confirmed that the french dvds contain english subs, then you're better off getting that to save some cash. The French BR also comes out on 20th of June. As for NA, it's fall time for us and who knows if we'll get the same treatment. We probably will after being treated w/ a Steamboy Gift set and a much later FFVII Advent Children LE Collector's Set.

Mermaid vs. Monkey King...who'd win?

The obligatory Kon fanservice for most of his works:

I toldja she's hawt underneath, though i think she's cold now

why is there fanservice? just pervy nature of JPN i guess :P. Here's some more fanservicey pics but this time all links are NOT SAFE FOR WORK: 1, 2 and a 3.

Enjoy Paprika ;).

Gaming Frontier 05/20/07

2007-05-20T13:18:00.000-04:00

another post (my true) to be made later. just some fighting games i wanted to note as well as others cuz y'all know i'm a hardcore fighter and massive game guru.

first, the negima wii fighting game site updated again w/ a few more screenshots and a some promo ~~junk~~ items for the fans.

Jeux-France updated on a lot of old games announced before:

More Hitman Reborn DS shots. This shonen manga/anime based fighting game looks pretty meh to me. seems like another crappy Jump SS fanservice game. though i'm sure fans will enjoy. V-Jump also reveals a PS2/Wii version which also looks pretty meh.

Though, i'm super excited for Dissidia being a fighting game, i can't help loathe Nomura's redrawn GAY designs for the FFIX charas. JF updated their page today w/ a new V-Jump scan which contains a couple of new screenshots.

The One Piece Gear Spirit game that was announced about a week ago has finally opened it's official site. JF updates w/ the VJump scans. I'm excited about this game simply cuz it's One Piece and has the word Gear in the title :P. Otherwise, this game looks super shitty and probably another crap game like Naruto Shinobi Retsuden.

Speaking of Naruto, V-Jump scans of the continuing action side-scroller Shippuden 5.

Some more Shonen anime game news is that the official Bleach Heat the Soul 4 site finally updated again as the game is to be released this week. The official confirmation of the much predicted arrancar Luppi is revealed. Wonderwice is the new partner chara revealed.

Crisis Core V-Jump scans. Some new screenshots, but not much else new. The theme song Why sounds really shitty from that small clip. Don't think i want the SE for this crap ass single.

The biggest news for me was the announcement of DBZ Sparking! Meteor for both Wii and PS2. JF indicates that it's different teams working on the game for each platform. As you can see from the scans, you'll see King Vegeta, King Cold and Nails. These are shitty characters who hardly fought in the manga (KV wasn't even in the manga). So it'll be interesting to see what moves the make up for King Cold and King Vegeta (aside from that ball blast in movie 8). Nails at least fought in manga & moreso in the anime, but his moves were still pretty uninteresting. Anyways, this game is just an expansion that will sell a boatloads to fans of Toriyama and DBZ. Thus, i'm one of the victims ^^;;.

Though it's old news from 3 days ago, i felt like adding links to Fate/Tiger Colosseum cuz i'm in a fighting game rush. Gamespot JPN and Dengeki links are some of the many ones. Rider is still so hot in her cutesy form, due to the fact we don't see her eyes XP.

so adowable

Lastly, just wanna mention that Ikkitousen Shining Dragon official site finally updated 2 days ago. As you can see, there's a LE and RE. The LE contains a sweet box drawn by the manga's author Yuji Shiozaki (great artist but can't draw fight scenes fluidly for his life...i think i mentioned that before). Anyways, game looks like crap but i'm eager to get, being a perverted fanboy of the manga and recent anime. Yesh, Kanu Yesh. And Chousen, U're looking super hawt...luv. Yay for ripped clothes :P o_0

oh yeah, you my 2nd babe

The Do it Yourself Post

2007-05-15T23:30:00.001-04:00

Ahh, yess, the classic "Ichigo" shot. Don't worry that pic is related. So, finally after months of talk, the ~~much anticipated~~ (read: no one cares) special (& long) post is finally unveiled. What does Gotoh, Aria, Shirow, Windy Tales, PoT and Blood+ have in common? Well, the answer to the Gotoh pic was simply being able to guess that the pic was done by Keiji Gotoh. The answer to the Aria anime was an impossible one, but I was looking for Kaori Higuchi. The 3rd pic was simply knowing that Masamune Shirow/Masanori Ota drew the pic. The 4th pic was knowing that the chara desinger for Windy Tales is Mizuho Nishikubo. Finally, the Prince of Tennis pic and Blood+ pic was for knowing that the character designer for both animes is Akiharu Ishii. I was gonna add two more works related to Katsuya Terada and Toshihisa Kaiya but I already felt that I've been prolonging this.

So what do they all have in common? well they all have worked w/ Production I.G. (my fave anime company) and they're all character designers for this series of games that was released 9 years ago. Those games would be the Yarudora series. The name comes from the contraction of "yaru" and "drama/dorama". Thus, it's known as a 'do it yourself drama' or 'acting your own drama' game. Basically, it's like a Choose your Own Adventure book (man i loved those books as a kid). A good comparison here would actually be Dragon's Lair. You make a choice and watch anime scenes play out. However, there's much more story and choices than Dragon's Lair, thus, making it seem like a movie than an half hour TV episode (it'll take you at least an hour if you make all the decent choices and get a normal/good ending). The main character for the 4 main Yarudora games is yourself, ususally a faceless guy (sorry girls) who isn't voiced for half of the games, but voiced in the Fall & Winter Yarudora games (games #3 & 4). The 4 main games always have you start out meeting some girl who has lost her memory and things go on from there. Dating sim fans will definitely like as all 4 main games have you making choices to court the main girl(s). All the other characters in the game are fully voiced and mostly be well known seiyuus. Each game contains multiple endings (each one has about 20+), therefore, increasing the replay value a lot, so you can explore different paths. You can also skip all the scenes that you've seen previously making it somewhat easier to get the rest of the endings. For those who remember, my post on Love & Destroy (post NSFW) was a foreshadow to this.
The Yarudora games were first released on PSX in 1998. I never heard of these games until I first saw a preview on Impress Game Watch in 2005. However, seeing that I didn't have plans to get a PSP at the time, I didn't care much for it, plus i couldn't read JPN that well (not that i can now, but i can sorta get around), nevertheless i found it interesting. However, I totally forgot about ti until February of this year when Play-Asia was having their Chinese New Year's Sale. Saw these PSP ports for 5 bucks US (yes only 5 bucks) and decided to pick them up. They've also become rare now. Of course, i'm talking about the Hong Kong version and not the JPN version which is still easily available. The Hong Kong version has JPN audio w/ traditional CHN subtitles, so that was puuurrrfect for me as i can't read simplified (stupid mainland :P). Thus, I was able to pick up 3 of the 5 HK version PSP ports. I then went on a crazy rush and bought the remaining Yarudora games by Production I.G. & Sugar & Rockets/Sony. I also scoured the Internet for a few paraphenilia.

So here it is, a shot of the Yarudora stuff I currently own. I plan to get some of the guides for the games that are in Japanese, cuz it's a bitch to get all the endings, and i want 'em for the art ^^.

So going from top left to right: Kisetsu wo Dakishimete (PSP), Double Cast (PSP), Blood The Last Vampire (PSP), Sampaguita (PSX), Yukiwari no Hana (PSX), Yarudora Settei Box Memories of Four Seasons Artbook (ULTRA RARE), Scandal Visual Guide, Scandal (PS2) and Surveillance (PS2). I got these all brand new ('cept Scandal) and cheap (each item cost me 5-20 bucks US).

The GAMES & Stuff

Now I haven't finished all of them but I will make a few comments on each as I played through most of 'em.

Double Cast

The first of the 4 main Yarudora games w/ designs by Keiji Gotoh. It is considered the Spring title of the 4 main Yarudora games. I haven't totally finished this game (have a few normal endings) but it's quite intriguing as the story seems like happy fluff but the story is actually darker than what it seems to be. It's a mix of a lot of genres (romance, comedy, action, horror). Yuki Kajiura does the music for this one and it's not bad. I have the OST for this and all i gotta say is that it hints some of her future works (namely .hack), it's good and fitting for the game. Though it's still not really strong and you wouldn't want to listen outside of the game. For more information, you can read the review at the (now dead) online anime mag site, Ex. Since this game combines a lot of story elements, great art & animation (some sweet action and fanservice) and terrific music, it is really a great intro for beginning Yarudora fans, hence why it was the first one.

Kisetsu wo Dakishimete

The 2nd of the 4 main Yarudora games and released as the Spring title, though it was released AFTER Double Cast and released in JPN during the summer (strange yes). It is considered the least popular of the Yarudora games due to the it being slow and the story being somewhat plain. However, it is probably my fave one of them all. I have played through this game a lot and i'm about 80% complete (u don't know how hard this is w/out a guide). Dating sim fans will most likely enjoy this game the most, though i dare not call myself a dating sim fan as i've only really played 2-3 of 'em. I also find the dating aspects in RPGs a chore :P. KwD basically has gives you the chance to choose between 3 chicks that you could end up w/. U got your hot friend, your super sexy hot neighbour and the irrestibly cute and pretty mystery girl. It sorta plays out like your usual teen drama (ie. Dawson's Creek, The OC etc.) but how it's executed is so fun. I enjoy these slice of life anime games like a I do w/ some slice of life animes. I love the character designs by Kaori Higuchi. Though, they're simple the girls are attractive and pretty. The seiyuus for this is stellar w/ Imai Yuka and Mitsuishi Kotono (wuv both seiyuu's charas) playing the main female leads. Being a slice of life anime game, the animation is good but nothing too spectacular since there isn't much action (there's some decent late 90's CG work). Lastly, I just want to mention the music, while it's not as good as some of the others, the main theme song will definitely stick w/ you after the game. This game was also reviewed @ Ex.

Sampaguita

The most popular of the main 4 and I consider it my 2nd fave. It was the 3rd one released and considered the Autumn title. The reason for it's popularity is no doubt the involvement of Masamune Shirow as original character designer. Not only that, it's the most action heavy of the 4, thus, giving it a even more theatrical feel. Not only that, you got two top seiyuus in this game, JPN's fave Megumi Hayashibara and Akio Ohtsuka (note this foreshadow ;)). This is the first game where you, the main character possess a voice. Some may not like as it takes away that personal feel that it's "you" in the story. I personally welcome it and Matsumoto Yasunori does a great job. I highly recommend this game first if you're undecided on where to start. It's a little linear but offers great action and a bit of romance. Plus Shirow's Maria is damn fine & Hayashibara kicks major ass (and still continues to kick all the 'noobies' asses, yes that includes you Kano & Hirano :P). Again, here's Ex's take.

Yukiwari no Hana

The one I played the least. Not cuz I don't like it but just haven't gotten around to it. While some may not like the pastel, simple art, i think it's great, as this style tends to lead to very good animation and YnH doesn't disappoint despite being pretty slow w/ no action. Like Sampaguita the main character "you" is once again voiced, and this time be well-known Hiyama Nobuyuki. Opposite of you is the neighbour that you lust for, Kaori Sakuragi (voiced by veteran seiyuu star Hidaka Noriko). Yukiwari no hana is slow going, which is another reason why I haven't been that motivated to get back to it. It can be a little boring at times too. It basically has you taking care (or trying to take advantage) of Kaori after she loses here memory. The thing is, she's engaged before the memory loss and you, the main chara knows this but you still want to mack her. So yeah, it sorta plays like your slow-going & boring Korean TV dramas but a little more interesting cuz you make the choices. The music is decent but i hate the theme song. Definitely the last one to pick up IMO.

Blood the Last Vampire

First released on the PS2 in 2 volumes (and was hella expensive), it's been ported and combined into one UMD for the PSP. Not part of the main Yarudora series obviously and thus, no usual formula (ie. amnesiac girl, you as main chara). So, if you've heard about this game, you know that it's a sequel for sorts to the Blood the Last Vampire movie and takes place in Tokyo year 2000. I remember reading a preview of this game in an old issue of EGM, there were hints to bring it over but ultimately, deemed to Japanese (and it was always delayed). You play as some boy (fully voiced and fully 'faced) who meets up w/ 2 hot chicks, who you follow will lead to different paths. I haven't really played this game much due to being so busy at the time (ie. exams) and now i'm busy w/ work. i'll finish it someday (before YnH for sure). Saya bascially shows up every once in a while to help the boy out from Chiropterans, as well as revealing more about the plot and the boy's identity. The game adds a "blood flow" meter throughout scenes which can effect your rating and ending you get. It's kinda pointless IMO but does give it more interactivity. Being a 'sequel' to the groundbreaking in japanese digital animation, you can expect awesome animation and art (u can't compare it w/ the previous yarudora games cuz it's digital from here on out). Katsuya Terada once again returns for chara designs and Youki Kudoh reprises her rare anime role of Saya again. Instead of Ike, Kajiura returns to the Yarudora scene and is in charge of the music here. Like Double Cast, i possess this game's OST (unlike the others though, where i only possess the theme song singles). The OST doesn't contain much of Kajiura's style and most won't be able to recognize it if they hadn't known. It's fitting and very dramatic but nothing to write home about, just like most of Kajiura's work on the Xenosaga series. I recommend this game if you're a Blood fan.

Scandal & Scandal Visual Book

Scandal is the 5th and final Yarudora game released by developer Sugar & Rockets (Blood was developed by most staff from S&R but wasn't considered or labelled as part of the Yarudora series until the PSP port, renamed "Yaruodra Portable"). Now Scandal was a game I was looking forward to when I read about it in an issue of EGM as well as Gamer's Republic. This was before the JPN PS2 launch as the game was relased a couple of months after the JPN PS2 launch (and before the US PS2 launch in which i also got on launch day). It looked cool, due to being an anime game but then i realized i wasn't gonna every play it on these shores until 7 years later, where i managed to get my hands on this sort-of rare game. Since this game was the first Yarudora game on a DVD medium, they packed a lot into this. Production values equals that of a anime movie. Art, animation, music was awesome. Story was long too and there's like 30+ endings. It was the definitive yarudora game. Like the yarudora games of the 21st century, "you" are not the hero, instead you control the heroine Saki, and you'll be deciding her fate. With so many endings, i needed to get a guide since this game isn't available w/ CHN subs obviously. I also wanted the guide for the awesome Akiharu Ishii art. I haven't played through all of this, but expect a lot of action, mystery, drama, plot twists and a bit of horror.

Surveillance

Created after the 'end' of Sugar & Rockets. It still contained members of the team and Production I.G. was once again in charge of animation. This game was a big departure from the usual Yarudora games. You play as Yusuke Sakaki, the team leader of a special forces team called Shadow Sword (the sole JPN guy on the team :P). As team leader you operate the latest high-tech surveillance camera system that can lead your team to defeat the terrorists. What makes this game different from the other Yarudora games is that you don't really "watch" a movie (u still do), but act as a operator (ouuu...ala operator's side/lifeline...i enjoyed that game btw). Basically, you're given 6 cameras running simultaneously and what you have to do is monitor all the cameras if and when they're available. In these cameras are anime scenes running in real time. Each camera that you access on to your main screen occasionally has a glowing icon. You have to click on this icon to reveal further information that will relay your team who is going in to stop the bad guys. failing to click on some of the important icons can result in death and failure of the mission. So, there is a little strategy as you gotta juggle between angles and be careful to watch which camera/anime scene when appropriate. Thus, for each mission, you won't be able to watch all the anime scenes on your first playthrough. However, if you succeed in the mission, you can go immediately back, play the mission again and dedicate watching one camera/anime scene. You can also get a different anime scene at the end of the mission when you replay. So, the game isn't really hard but it still contains a bit of the yarudora feel. Animation is really top-notch this time around since it's an action anime and you get up to 6 camera angles of one anime scene. The music is okay and does it's job w/ upbeat pulse pounding techno when the action heats up. Some talented seiyuus this time around include Satsuki Yuka, Junko Noda and once again Yuka Imai. I still haven't finish this game, but will try to tackle it over the course of the summer. I'll probably get the guide to as i dig Kaiya's art.

Yarudora Settei Box Memories of Four Seasons Official Artbook

A totally rare and awesome artbook that i managed to snag for only 8 bucks US! It originally cost 3200 yen when it was released in 1999. The book is A4 size and contains 280 pages. The book contains production artwork for all characters, main and minor. There's also a boatload of background art as well. The art for each game is separated in their own 'season'. It also includes some comments and interviews by the developers, a little making of section, and short story synopsis for each game. Lastly, there's a promo artwork section.

Triangle Again series

Now the only game that i'm missing from the Yarudora games is Triangle Again and Triangle Again 2. Both of these games were released on Xbox first and was later ported to PS2. I'm reluctant to get them cuz they're not really considered part of the Yarudora games as most important key staff didn't participate in this (not talking about chara designers and composers). I also find them expensive (it's not that expensive but for my budget for a 5 year old game...yes it is), the story doesn't interest me (i'll touch upon that) much and chara designs are meh imo. I'll probably get them (for collections sake) whenever i'm in JPN. That's if i happen to see them (or remember) as they're not high on the want list. The story might interest some ppl though as it was sorta the first Idolmaster game afaik (so yeah, iM@S isn't that original :P ^^). Basically you're a manager of some pop idol and you make choices in order for her to succeed in her concerts and whatnot. Drama and other plot developments will probably pop up to make it play like an anime.

So are these games worth your money? Well, if you call yourself a hardcore fan of anime & games (or some of the chara designers), you should definitely try and pick these games up. However, If you don't have much grasp and knowledge of the JPN language or CHN language (that's if you happen to get your hands on the rare HK versions), you might have to give these games a 2nd thought. Not understanding most of the content will take away some of the enjoyable stories and experience. Though, I still recommend the casual anime & game fans to try 1 or 2 Yarudora games (ie. Sampaguita & Double Cast, as there's faqs for them) to experience a "TRUE" anime game. Anyways, I hope those you who are interested in the Yarudora games found this interesting as there isn't much information on net for these games. There was a CHN site that i came across that had some great info and media. If you're looking for faqs, there isn't much. Gamefaqs has faqs for Double Cast, Sampaguita and Blood (PS2 version, basically the same). If you're deciding on which to get (PSX or PSP), i'll just say that the PSX contains rumble and you can choose the screen size that you want to watch it on (:P). There's also subtitle display option. However, unlocking the gallery is harder than the PSP versions. Other than that, not much else.

Only Famitsu score that interests me this week is Bleach Heat the Soul 4. It got a 29 (8/6/7/8), pretty decent. see, toldja the bleach pic was related. Now that's a wrap, now go do yourself.

KOF Maximum Impact REGULATION "Cs or Ds" ?

2007-05-07T23:11:00.000-04:00

Not much to say really except for some surprising news (or rumour) for KOF MI fans. Rakuten lists the Taito Type X2 arcade game KOF MI Regulation "A" for July 26 release on the PS2. The game hasn't even been released for the arcades yet! The listing mentions the PS2 version coming out the same month as the arcade version. Seriously what's the point of putting this shitty unbalanced game in the arcades? It's not gonna last long cuz it'll be broken like the previous games as long as "Fagoon" is helming it. Anyways, despite my hate for Fagoon, i'm still gonna get the PS2 version due my KOF fanboyism. Most importantly BLUE MARY in sweet 3D!!!

I hope they keep the bouncing to a minimum as they were horrible in the previous games and detracted a lot ("Fagoon", that fucking perverted two tone fatty). Anyways, here's a few shots of the 2 new charas added to this expansion, gay-freckle-boy Ash and uber-wolf-following-hottie Blue Mary from Gemaga. It's also been mentioned that there will be other new charas besides these two.

Today marks the final day of my hints for the upcoming future post. Both pictures have one thing in common and relates to the previous pictures starting from the Gotoh one.

What?! did i go bishie?! just this one time ;).

Pure Sexiness of Saya + Diva

So what does Gotoh, Aria, Shirow, Windy Tales, PoT and Blood+ have in common? u'll find out in my next post.

May 8 2007 11:47 PM edit:
Just wanna add the latest Famitsu scores as there's games i'm interested in this week:

Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Tamashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (NDS, Nintendo): 9 / 9 / 8 / 8 - (34/40)
Custom Beat Battle: Draglade (NDS, Banpresto): 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (28/40)
Odin Sphere (PS2, Atlus): 9 / 9 / 7 / 7 - (32/40) - A very good score, can't wait to pick the US version up (as it'll contain both JPN and ENG voices), though when i'll get around playing it is another thing ^^;
Shining Wind (PS2, Sega): 7 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (27/40) - pretty shitty score (compared to Shining Tears 31/40), meh, me wuv T2 designs, gonna git regardless.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Wii, Interchannel): 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (24/40)
Meitantei Conan: Tsuioku no Gensou (Mirage) (Wii, Marvelous): 4 / 4 / 5 / 3 - (16/40)

Web-hers

2007-05-05T08:51:00.001-04:00

Like most movie goers, i went to check out the much anticipated Spider-Man 3 movie last night. After all, it is the movie that jump starts this year's summer blockbuster movies. I am also a casual Spider-Man fan, having watched the old cartoons during my younger years (the old 60's one of course). Thus, i began casually collecting Spider-Man comics w/out knowing THAT much about the story or the value of comics. It wasn't until my younger teens years that i got back into Spidey again, thanks to the 90's cartoon. The cartoon really jump started my Spider-Man comic collection, as well as enhancing my knowledge of the Spider-Man universe. I went about and read every little bit of history regarding the characters and its villains to stay up to date. When the 90's cartoon ended, so did my collecting (the same can be said w/ my X-Men collecting). Every now and then, I would still check out comic stores for a couple back issues that i want, but i'm currently off the ball w/ Spider-Man comics (ie. WTF? The Civil War 'revealing', had no idea about that!).

Anyways, on to the movie. For those who've yet to watch the movie i suggest you stop reading as there's MAJOR SPOILERS. So, as a superhero trilogy film, it was very very good. Wrapped everything from the previous films quite well. The ending was quite good but leaves a little more to be desired for the usual 'Hollywood-happy-ending-goers'. The ending also felt a tad long. Now, turning on my Spider-Man geek mode/: I felt that Venom's development was rushed. Yes, I mean Venom, not Eddie Brock. Brock was developed a bit, enough to be warranted as a supporting character, rather than a minor one. The villain development obviously pales to compare w/ the previous films as we got 2 villains in Spidey 3. I never cared for Flint Marko's/Sandman's character in the comic or in the film. So his development on film was just wasted time that could've gone to fan fave Venom. However, this is Raimi's movie and he dug the Sandman character more than Venom. So, back to Venom's rushed 'development'. Venom was bulked already before Eddie Brock had to lift any weights...wtf...they didn't explain that. See, i knew Topher Grace was a mistake to be cast as him, as he's still pretty scrawny from his That 70's Show days. Another thing was, Brock getting actual fangs like Venom's teeth...wtf is that. Also, when Brock was in Venom mode, he didn't refer to himself as the third person like the comic. This is important as it's Brock and Venom's entire personality and their hate towards Spider-Man. Though, he did refer Spider-Man as "The Spider" just like in the comic. Yet this also represents an error in the movie cuz Brock's development was mostly hate towards Peter Parker and not so much towards Spider-Man (S-M), whereas in the comics, it's vice versa, though some may say he hates Parker on the same level as S-M. Most disappointing w/ Venom is the fight w/ Spidey. Not enough of it. There was more focus of Spidey & Osborn (more on that in a bit) fighting Sandman than Venom. The little bit of Spidey/Venom one on one was very sweet. Having no Spider-sense against Venom was cool, however, having no almost zero spider sense for two movies is fucked up :P. Back on topic, they should have made Spidey/Venom fight longer especially when Venom was gonna meet his demise.
Gwen Stacy's appearance was worthless. Seeing as how Mary Jane basically portrayed her in the first movie, her character was simply a ploy to motivate Brock's anger towards Parker (seeing as she's his girlfriend here....WTF) as well as complicating Peter & MJ's relationship. Otherwise, a totally worthless character in contrast w/ the comic. As for Harry Osborn, very well done here. Franco is awesome. They do a good job of portraying his complicated relationship w/ Parker like in the comics. Though i found it a little corny and rushed when he turns to the 'good side' and helps S-M fight Sandman and Venom. His death was sort of similar to the comics, where he died saving Spider-Man (though they fought each other until the end before Osborn saving S-M).
Finally I must mention, Bruce Campbell's cameo and i'd have to say it's the best cameo of the three. He's so awesome. It makes me want Raimi make a Evil Dead 4 soooo bad. So, was the movie worth it? for sure, to see how it all 'ends'. They obviously have enough for a bajillion of sequels, as i always though the Lizard was gonna be future villain since he was introduced in the 1st movie and appears in all three. There's also room for fan-fave Carnage as a symbiote sample was left behind (though it'd be different from Carnage's birth in the comic). Anyways, i'm reconsidering watching this again on the IMAX, but can't wait for the DVD release already.

Today's hint is Windy Tales/Fuujin Monogatari. What does it have in common w/ the others...hmmm.

yeah i couldn't find a decent pic, so i used the wall from the site :P.

"Surrender...

2007-04-30T00:07:00.000-04:00

...yourself to me"

Would you surrender every word, every thought every sound to Nekane? I WOULD! Anyways this is my 200th post, thus, i've filled it w/ some random pics (mostly from the recent Megami). So yeah, finally finished all exams last week. If one was wondering why i didn't update last week w/ famitsu news or anything in general, it's cuz of exams. 'sides, there wasn't any games worth mentioning that got reviewed. Dengeki PS DID review Shining Wind w/ a decent score. I'm obviously interested in Shining Wind due to T2's involvement like I was w/ Shining Tears. So w/ school finally over, i've been killing brain cells ;) and my liver has become the equivalent of an old man's ^^;. This year was also my final year, thus, it also means it's real-world-job hunting time \('o')/. though i do have something lined up already for now and will probably be moving cities and getting a place w/ my girlfriend in the coming months ^_^.

"Surrender to Ryomou? maybe. Surrender to Hakufu? gimme a sec. Surrender to Kanu? OH YEAH!!"

As for my hobbies, think they'll be slowly declining again in the coming months. I do have a sweet massive package lined up for May though. Haven't really watched any Spring anime. Been mostly watching my Shonen anime shows, even though i know what's gonna happen next, having read the manga ages ago.
Shippuden is gonna be sweet very soon w/ Team Gai's fight and Team Kakashi's little tussle w/ "Itachi". I'm not looking forward to Chiyo-baa's and Sakura's fight w/ Sasori as that fight made me lose interest in the manga and it took me forever to get back into it.
Bleach has always been sick and Ichigo's 2nd fight w/ Hollow Ichigo is much anticipated. Though the manga storyline has become pretty meh, the fights are still exciting as ever and can't wait to see what happened to Ichigo after loss to Ulquiorra.
One Piece has just finished the AMAZING fight w/ Luffy and Lucci. Seeing Gear Third animated was super sick! CP9 is probably my fave arc now as so much was dedicated to my dear Robin-chwan.
As for 'non-shonen jump' anime, Ikkitousen DD has showed sweet fanservice + sick fights. Yesh Kanu Yesh, gimme more! I'll probably get that shitty ass looking game too. And that's all i've been following as time hasn't been kind.

As for games, stopped playing DJ MAX 2 for a week after raping 4B on hard and averaging 80-90% on all songs in 5B. I'm around lvl.50 iirc. I've actually been playing PS3 as my buddy lent me his. Thus, i raped the Ninja Gaiden Sigma demo mid last week and burned rubber w/ Gran Turismo HD. Rented VF5 to perfect my already decent skills. On a fighting game note, T6 scans showed up on the weekend, kick ass.Also bought a couple games (DW5 & X-MenL II) this past weekend as they were semi-cheap at EB.

"Surrender to Miho? Fer sure, lemme get ready"

Movies: checked out Hot Fuzz and The Invisible. Pretty meh but i can't wait for Spider-Man 3 this Fri. Going to the first matinee show and probably IMAX later. Wish i was in Japan to check it out on May 1st. damn u nihonjins :P.

Sports: only watching NHL and NBA. Nash, u ARE AMAZING. 23 assists = sick. Toronto, u suck, can't believe they got raped again. NHL, good shit that Rangers won as i hate the Sabres. Sharks, u better fucking win tomorrow night (or should i say tonight). Canucks, you guys suck horribly (that series against Dallas was one of the worst series i've seen), probably be eliminated and i laugh. Sens and Devils...don't wanna say anything as i don't wanna jinx.

"Surrender to Yukiho & Haruka? Prolly not, cuz then I'd have to surrender to the police"

3rd hint of my special future post is probably the easiest along w/ the 1st hint. Hmm...what do they have in common? Nice lips...good for....;) :

Lastly if you don't understand the title and the first sentence from this post, it's a line from a song. Been listening to Billy Talent's 2nd album a lot lately (Billy Talent II). I will also be going to their concert in July...sweet ^^.

A Package from the "God of Music"

2007-04-18T10:38:00.001-04:00

Finally had the time to make this post as i've been busy w/ school and watching the playoffs. So anyways, as i mentioned last week, my DJ MAX Portable 2 Night Black Orpheus Package Limited Edition came in last week and this post will be dedicated to the lovely swag that it contains. Thus, you can decide if this rare puppy was worth my 200 bones CDN.

So first up is the box. As you can see from the box Play Asia sent me, it was quite huge. Had to unwrap about 5 layers of bubble wrap to get this baby out. And this is how the sweet Night Black edition looks:

The box is quite heavy and very sturdy. It opens up ala magnet lid. Here's the inside of the box showing how the soundtrack, game and puzzle is placed:

The PSP cover and actual holographic case/cover, as well as inside the case w/ more awesome E.L. art.

the jigsaw puzzle box itself is thick and sturdy and also opens up ala magnet style. The puzzle pices are in ziplock bag. The postcards are placed underneath the puzzle pieces along w/ the exclusive Night Black poster/guide for the poster. Here's the what the inside of the jigsaw puzzle box looks like:

And here's the exclusive Night Black postcards:

Next up is the visual artbook, which is hidden underneath the game and soundtrack. This baby is huge and the paper is nice and glossy. There's about 80 something pages consisting of artwork, making-of (storyboards, production sketches) and a small section w/ the staff. Very well worth it.

Soundtrack is next. Contains 3 CDs titled Black, White and Red. Black and White are mostly songs from the game, while Red is remixes of selected songs from the game. It's formatted basically the same as DJ Max Portable 1's soundtrack.

Last swag to be included is a NB ranger mask hidden way underneath the box. There's five colours and I got green.

Two things to note is the insert that comes w/ the game. There's an ad for the upcoming DJ MAX Invitational Live concert (cool) and another teaser ad for Pentavision's next game. It's currently titled Project S4 and looks very cool as it has a chick w/ sword and gun. The website can be found here and i guess it's expected to launch on the 27th.

Don't feel like talking much about the game aside from the fact i'm loving it like the first. The new fever system is way awesome and i love the soundtrack, much moreso than DJMP 1's (though most would disagree). The soundtrack for 2 is more varied and i listen to a variety of music in general. While DJMP 1's music was really great, it had too many tracks that sounded the same. However, i found the videos better in 1. But that's just personal taste. There's a lot of good ones in 2 and i've yet to unlock 'em all. My fave video so far would no doubt be Syriana, that is linked to the awesome Outlaw (which is also in DJMP2 along w/ a few other DJMP1 music vids). So, in the end was the limited edition worth it? Yes and no. The game itself is amazing. The artbook is gorgeous w/ lots of beautiful artwork (and one of the main reason why i wanted the LE). The soundtrack is audio orgasm as i love the music more than DJ MAX Portable 1. The insert booklet is really nice too. The rest of the stuff is a no, it's junk and cost almost nothing to make. I could do w/out 'em. The postcards are nice though and definitely like Night Black's selection of postcards more than Metallic Silver. The puzzle obviously kicks Metallic Silver's ass too. I'll probably do the puzzle once i get a frame for it (what?! i have to spend MORE money on this? :P ^^). So the real downfall is the price through a middle buyer. If one was able to achieve this straight from Korea for a little under 100 bucks US, definitely worth it. So, looks like i've decided to keep this knowing that i'm one of the special 1000 ppl in the world who owns this version ^^.

While I'm talking about gaming, last week's announcement of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix definitely has me hyped. The reason is mostly due to the awesome redrawn artwork by my current fave comic studio Udon. And those who've been following my blog, know how much I love Udon and their Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Rival Schools and Street Fighter Legends comics (i might do another Udon collection pic one day). On that note, i'd like to mention that i bought Gen 13 #7 last week solely cuz Alvin Lee (my fave artist from Udon) and M3TH (also from Udon) were responsible for the art.

As for gaming purchases this week, i'm contemplating on P3 Fes. I own the JPN P3 and plan to get the US one (which has been delayed once again to July). However, i'm not far in P3 and currently don't have the drive to play it right now. So i might sell it and get Fes as i'm still unsure if Atlus USA is releasing Fes. I've decided not to get KOF Nests Collection cuz it's a collection of the WORSE KOFs. So i would hardly be playing it even if i did get it. That and cuz I already own the PAL 2000/2001 (uncensored ;)) collection on the PS2 by Ignition as well as the crappy port of KoF '99 on the PSX by Agetec. Though it is a crappy port, at least it's got a kick ass gallery that this collection does NOT have. Plus, KoF 99 is pure crap (stupid game that introduced strikers). Now that i'm on SNK news, i must mention of the latest media of my most anticipated DS game that appeared on most JPN game sites ~~today~~ yesterday (yeah, i was doing this post last night but couldn't finish ^_^;), Days of Memories:

Go to the usuals like Impress, Gpara, Dengeki Online, eg.nttpub for the same screenshots. Last bit on SNK news is this sweet IGN interview ~~today~~ last night w/ SNKPUSA's Ben Herman. The interview mostly dicusses the SNK and the Wii's VC as SNKP plans to release Neo-Geo games in the summer. So there's a lot of discussion what games they plan to release as well as online functionality w/ the Wii. It also mentions their future plans w/ Wii, 360 and PS3. Herman also notes that Fatal Fury Battle Archives 1 is expected to release in June for PS2 in NA, while the announced Art of Fighting collection should street at the end of April or in May. Though, i'm excited that SNKPUSA is finally releasing these games in NA, i probably still won't buy cuz i already own them and just can't afford double dipping. The only game i would double dip on is KOF XI. Even though it's broken, it's still fun and i luv Elisabeth ^^. However, i can't wait for their VC lineup! gimme some NAM, football frenzy, baseball stars, windjammers, etc. etc.

Latest Famitsu scores:

Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings (NDS, Square Enix): 9 / 8 / 7 / 8 - (32/40) - cool, but still a FF that didn't deserve a sequel
Panel de Pon DS (NDS, Nintendo): 8 / 7 / 8 / 8 - (31/40)
Meteos: Disney Magic (NDS, Disney): 8 / 8 / 7 / 8 - (31/40)
One Piece Unlimited Adventure (Wii, Bandai Namco): 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (28/40) - not bad not bad for a shonen anime game
Test Drive Unlimited (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 9 / 8 / 9 / 8 - (34/40)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360, Ubisoft): 9 / 9 / 9 / 9 - (36/40)
San-X Chara Sagashi Land (NDS, MTO): 6 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (26/40)
Hana Deka Club: Animal Paradise (NDS, Agatsuma): 5 / 7 / 5 / 5 - (22/40)
Choco Inu no Sweets Depart (NDS, TDK): 6 / 5 / 6 / 6 - (23/40)
Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan (NDS, Hudson): 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (28/40
Negima!? Dream Tactic Yumemiru Otome Princess (PS2, Konami): 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (24/40)
Rogue Hearts Dungeon (PS2, Compile Heart): 6 / 4 / 5 / 5 - (20/40)
Elvandia Story (PS2, Spike): 6 / 6 / 6 / 5 - (23/40)
Binchou-Tan: Shiawasegoyomi (PS2, Marvelous): 5 / 4 / 4 / 4 - (17/40)
The Dog Island: Hitotsuno no Hana no Monogatari (PS2, Yuke's): 7 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (25/40)
The Dog Island: Hitotsu no Hana no Monogatari (Wii, Yuke's): 7 / 6 / 6 / 5 - (24/40)
Super Black Bass: Kitahankyuu o Tsuru (NDS, Starfish): 4 / 4 / 4 / 4 - (16/40)

Nothing in Famitsu really interests me much this week: Beautiful Katamari Damacy (Multi) = meh (the graphics look better but not that much); Wild Arms XF = meh (looks good but i'm not a fan of the WA series)

2nd hint for my 'special' post in the future:

this one may be tricky but it's not Amano related, instead, anime-related. Since i posted an anime version, here's the hawt Amano manga style version:

C-DRiVE of Memories

2007-04-10T16:38:00.001-04:00

Been busy lately as it's exam month. Hope ppl had a Happy Easter. I didn't do much 'cept check out Grindhouse, which was an awesome movie for any movie geek. Anyways, last week's official confirmation of RE4 Wii & media on Umbrella Chronicles seemed like the biggest news of the week. However, personally, this gaming guru found the news meh. The biggest news last week for me, was of course, the date set for the Nintendo DS version of the Japanese cell phone game, Days of Memories!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!! June 14 is the release date. 2nd biggest news was the date set (June 21) for Fu'un Super Combo (Savage Reign/Kizuna Encounter) Compilation. Back to Days of Memories, for those who don't know, this game was a cell phone only game in JPN. It's a dating sim game featuring girls from KOF and Samurai Sprits. There's also a DoM game featuring male characters for the girls. The newest one (announced only a couple of weeks ago) includes a few new charas from SNK's other games. Th e DS version is a compilation of the first 3 Days of Memories games. The first 2 had charas from KOF while DoM 3 was entirely Samurai Spirits. I always wanted to play this game cuz I'm a huge SNK fighting fan (no surprise) and found it interesting & fun trying and pick your fave SNK gal (so HARD cuz they're all so HAWT). However, what grabbed me the most was always the AWESOME ARTWORK. So yeah, can't wait fo r this game and I should have a DS by then.

I've also been contemplating on Bleach Heat the Soul 4. I didn't plan on getting this game. However, with last week's Famitsu scan and yesterday's website update. I find it harder and harder to resist. Why? Yadoumaru Lisa, the Vizard hottie. Her and Kensei were added to the playable list while the other Vizards are partner characters, which is kinda crappy but makes sense since they haven't fought in the manga yet. But yeah, having Lisa playable is freakin' awesome. Though she reminds me too much of Nemu in fighting style since both have the CL spinning bird kick move. However, Nemu's SBK was made up for the game while Lisa's SBK was a move Kubo drew in the manga. When I first saw that move when reading the manga, I immediately thought of Nemu from HtS 3. Aside from Lisa and Grimmjow, there isn't anything else new & improved that makes me want to play the game. With a month left, I hope there'll be a few more new characters added (ie. more Arrancars and Espadas).

There's been a lot of game news coming from retailers that hint at NA releases. First there was the GBA port of Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Phoenix Wright 3) and I just found out that One Piece Unlimited Adventure (Wii) was given Summer/August 2007 US release in another retailer's database. Interesting, though I can't play that game in Eng. since I never heard/watched the show in Eng. I'm just too used to the JPN cast. Plus, the game would be major spoilerific for NA viewers, i mean Gear 3 Luffy is in the game!!!!! Meanwhile, I finally got my DJ MAX Portable 2 Night Black Limited Edition today. Haven't opened it yet, thus I will take pictures and post it up in the next few days to let y'all see the beauty within :).

Meanwhile, take a gander at this mini order that i took a shot of late last week. It consists of my ongoing JPN mangas like Shi ga Futari wo Wakatsu Made Until Death do us Part vol.4 & Rappi Rangai vol.3. I'm actually considering dropping Rappi Rangai cuz Tanaka Hosana's art seems to be getting a little worse. The story is going at a snail's pace. The action is mediocre and fanservice is weak (though there's still a good chunk, up to the point where i find it excessive and annoying...can u believe that?! X_X). I still love Until Death Do Us Part ^_^. I also finally got Gear Fighter Dendoh Memorial Book after delaying it for 3 months. The book isn't anything special as it's simply another guide for everything Dendoh. It's all old artwork appearing that has appeared in previous Dendoh books as well as Hisayuki's artbook. There's just some updates to the Dendoh swag collection. Thus, it's only another book for Hisayuki whores like me ^^.

Since I've been talking about starting a 'theme' for a while now, i'm gonna finallly start it up today. In the upcoming posts, see if you can guess what the artworks have in common. Today:

And tomorrow...NHL PLAYOFFS START!!! OMG!!! WOOT!!
Note: I'll probably have Famitsu scores added to this post later tonight or tomorrow morning cuz I don't feel like doing a post tomorrow.

here it is, Famitsu scores:
Famitsu
Super Paper Mario (Wii, Nintendo): 9 / 9 / 9 / 8 - (35/40) - Magnifico! as expected from NA reviews last week
Furu Furu Park (Wii, Taito): 6 / 6 / 6 / 5 - (23/40)
Lise no Atelier: Ordre no Renkinjutsushi (NDS, Gust): 6 / 5 / 7 / 6 - (24/40)
Gakuen Alice: WakuWaku * Happy Friends (NDS, Kids): 5 / 4 / 6 / 6 - (21/40)
Nodame Cantabile (NDS, Bandai Namco): 6 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (26/40)
Ouran Koukou Host Bu (PS2, Idea Factory): 7 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (27/40)
Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua] (PS2, Kadokawa Shoten): 8 / 8 / 7 / 6 - (29/40)

Dengeki PS

Final Fantasy Tactics: Shishi Sensou (PSP, Square Enix): 80 / 85 / 90 / 70 - Debating about getting this as I have the PSX one lying around somewhere
Persona 3: Fes (PS2, Atlus): 85 / 90 / 80 / 90 - Looking forward to this, even though i'm not finished the JPN version. I hope the US version is Fes. Either way, i have it preordered for the artbook and OST
Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua] (PS2, Kadokawa Shoten): 75 / 85 / 90 / 80
Grim Grimoire (PS2, Nippon Ichi): 75 / 80 / 75 / 70
Elvandia Story (PS2, Spike): 75 / 65 / 70 / 70

once again, no reason, 'cept for the fact i luv hisayuki :D.

Beyond the other time

2007-04-04T17:22:00.000-04:00

What happened to the good old days when OVAs consisted of animation and art that was near movie-like quality but you could tell where it came up short of being movie-like caliber? What happened to OVAs that were more risque than their TV counterparts, showcasing adult themes and violence? Continuing this trend of non-exciting OVAs (based off TV shows) is Bakuretsu Tenshi Infinity in which I will rant about my negative views of this already negatively viewed TV series (that sooo didn't make sense). However, y'know i still like the series, cuz why would i bitch.

This craptastic OVA was simply a flashback of the adventures of Meg & Jo before they met Sei and Amy. Those who've seen the TV show, would remember that there was a flashback episode regarding how Meg met Jo. This OVA is simply a boring extension of what happened after that flashback. So yeah, ultimately no Sei, which I would have hoped made an appearance as well as what happened at the end of the TV show. Questions left unanswered. WTF?! is Sei & Jo still alive?! I don't know!!! Cuz this OVA was a glorious piece of shiite. Waste of time. Not only was that disappointing, the art & animation weren't even near the quality of the best animated episode from the TV show. If you don't remember, the art & animation in the TV show is very average, inconsistent and most of the time just sucked. The only thing that looked good were the CGI fights (and Sei...most of the time :P). Every spring anime 1st episodes this season look better than this crap and they had almost 3 years to work on this. I had thought about ordering this due to my love for Ugetsu Hakua art (though I never really liked the box art) but I'm glad I didn't go blow 100 bucks (approx) on this crap. The only two things that I regret about not getting the R2 is the 2:40 min special on disc 2 (more on that in a bit) and the booklet w/ some Ugetsu art. However, it's most likely that Funi will release these stuff since they did as stellar job w/ the R1 release. So I'll buy it then.

Now about that Bakuten Project Final special on disc 2, man, was that awesome. This should've been turned into the OVA and not the garbage given on disc one. The special basically presents either a what-if/alternate or (maybe) real ending scenario of the Tenshis (& Kyohei) in the future. However, i'm doubting it's the ending cuz as you can see Sei, Jo and Maria return (YAY!). The designs are different (since it's directed by Ugetsu...w00t) as Meg's new outfit is different from the one in the TV ending. For those who forgot, her TV ending outfit was essentially a the same as Jo's, midriff and all but Meg's shirt was black instead of Jo's navy blue. The design was in Ugetsu's Flamboyant artbook. The outfit she wears in this one is almost the same as her normal yellow outfit in the TV show. The difference is she wears black stockings and the 'Jo-panties'. The red jacket that she wears over this has a fur collar, which is also different from the TV version. Anyways, I could go on and on (ie. 2 guns vs. 1) but i don't feel like it. Just know that this design was revealed in Ugetsu's Parhelia maybe 2 years ago. I just want to say this special looks great overall as you can see it's got more of Ugetsu's style. It does look weird at some points (look @ the screencap of bony Meg o_0). The special is full of fanservice w/ cleavage shots galore, boobies jiggling, some yuri action and nudity. This is what an OVA should be :P, especially in Bakuten's case since it was known for jubblies. The obvious highlight for me was Sei's appearance. Longtime readers and ppl who know me, know how much I adore Sei and am Sei-obsessed (buying the expensive R2 Sei box just for the box and fig, buying more figs x_x). Seeing her as an office lady and then stripping down in her slightly redesigned outift (not as hot as her original outfit but still hawt) was orgasmic :P ^_^. This tease was just not cool on Gonzo's part. Anways, this special slightly redeemed BakuTen by just a bit and it's all cuz of Sei ^^.

The latest Famitsu scores:

DS:
Gyakuten Saiban 4: 9, 9, 9, 9 - AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. Can't wait to get this game as I should be getting a DS soon. Don't need the other games really as I played the GBAs ages ago.
Chicken Little: 7, 6, 6, 6
Little Mermaid: 6, 6, 6, 6
Mario VS. Donkey Kong 2: 8, 7, 8, 8
Watashi no Rirakkuma: 5, 5, 3, 4

PS2:
SIMPLE 2000: Nekomura no Hitobito: 7, 5, 6, 5
Grim Grimoire: 8, 7, 7, 6 - Yeah this good looking RTS had me skeptical. Decent score but i hate RTS games.

The latest Famitsu also has more details of Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles. While i'm slightly disappointed that the camera is 1st person (ala aim & survivor), i'm still looking forward to it. I do hope it's not like the light gun games though.
The confirmation of Biohazard 4 sounds good too, however, i don't think i'll get it unless it contains bonus stuff not in the PS2 port. It's assumed that the Wii version is the Ultimate BH4 game w/ GC graphics and PS2 extras. So far, that hasn't been announced, just that the you can now wave the wiimote for knife attacks.

I haven't purchased much in the last while. I did come across some good deals on the weekend w/ Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (only 19 bucks CDN!! and FFVII Advent Children LE (35 bucks CDN). For those who haven't decided on whether FF7 AC LE is worth it, well, it depends on how hardcore you love FF7. I'm only a casual FF7 fan (i'm all about FFVIII man) but w/ the so much Crisis Core media, I wanted Last Order...legally :P. So it's good to have it in pristine DVD quality. The On a Way to Smile novel is a pretty good albeit short read. It sets things up nicely leading to AC. I'm looking forward to AC Complete on BRD. Though I don't know how "complete" it'll be.

Finish off w/ another Hakua BakuTen Inifinity Art.

The Inter Media @rtists and Specialists Show

2007-03-28T08:36:00.000-04:00

The Originals

So yeah, I got carried away yesterday (and today), playing the new PS2 fighting game Hokuto no Ken in which i got on the way home yesterday. Because of that, i had a ton of practice and think I'll try my go at the arcades this weekend :D. w/out further ado, finally more iM@S:

Been sick for the past couple of days. Gonna finish up iM@S ~~today~~. First up is the latest Famitsu scores:

Famitsu

Barnyard: Shuyaku wa Ore, Ushi (Wii, THQ): 7 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (25/40)
Shin Sangoku Musou DS: Fighter's Battle (NDS, Koei): 7 / 6 / 7 / 7 - (27/40)
Meitantei Conan: Tantei Ryoku Trainer (NDS, Bandai Namco): 6 / 6 / 7 / 7 - (26/40)
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Portable 2 (PSP, Konami): 10 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (34/40)
Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable (PSP, Bandai Namco): 9 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (33/40)
Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel (PS2, Bandai Namco): 8 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (32/40)
Pro Yakyuu Netsu Star 2007 (PS2, Bandai Namco): 8 / 8 / 7 / 7 - (30/40)

Dengeki PS

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix + (PS2, Square Enix): 90 / 85 / 95 / 90
Pro Yakyuu Spirits 4 (PS2, Konami): 80 / 90 / 90 / 90
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Portable 2 (PSP, Konami): 80 / 80 / 95 / 80
Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel (PS2, Bandai Namco): 80 / 85 / 80 / 80
Musou Orochi (PS2, Koei): 85 / 75 / 65 / 85

and Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword looks interesting

Let's all enjoy Xenoglossia next week ^^.

So that ends another theme and without a doubt i finish off w/ my fave at the end! Miki for the final win!!

T & @ss 2 The MAX

2007-03-22T08:08:00.001-04:00

Since y'all know that I follow DJ MAX Portable 2 closely (yesterday i had a scare w/ the JPN LE, turned out to be false thankfully) Ruliweb would like to show ya the opening movie and screenshots from it. Contains some 3D, 3D cel shading animation (really good), static images and modes from the game. It's okay but I was expecting something that would top the awesome (and 'fanservicey') Korean animated intro. I hope there's another intro cuz some games contain an 'opening' AND an 'intro', if you get my drift. Somehow, i doubt it as the OP song is featured in full as well as 'the band'. Oh well, it sux if that's the only opening/intro as one would've expected something bigger and better w/ the profits they made. Here's some pics from the intro from Ruliweb if you haven't already clicked on the above link. HAWT!

DJ MAX Portable 2 Vocal Paradigm 2 was also released today w/ hot e.l featured fully on the cover. yum. Need to check this out as i've been listening to vocal paradigm 1 for a month now.

My Fave Cooking M@sters

2007-03-18T22:01:00.000-04:00

Only missing Miki though. So yeah, as you can see, today's idol includes (the ever hot & stacked) Azusa, Chihaya and Makoto.

Been sorta busy lately w/ NCAA basketball going on (damn, Ohio St. that was fucking close) and drinking myself crazy yesterday (hope ppl drank a lot of green beer ^^). Finally saw 300 recently and damn that was an awesome movie. Total guy film which my girl didn't mind watching with me ^^. Just wanna mention that two scenes really stood out for me. I was surprised about how evenly paced the story was (and the amount of story was surprising for an action movie).

Gonna talk about some gaming in which is related to this post's title. Some of you may or may not know that Cooking Mama Wii comes out in a couple of days. If you think that game on the DS was totally original then think again as there were a couple cooking games before it. I've been re-playing this pretty old and obscure PSX game that not many have heard about. I got this game not long after I got my first PS2 during my crazy PSone game rush (bought about 100+ psx games in 2000) as i skipped the 32-bit/64-bit era. This game is called Ore no Ryori and it's probably still THE BEST COOKING GAME i've played. i'll see if my opinion changes when i try cooking mama wii, though it doesn't seem like it'll overthrow OnR. So yeah, I remember picking this game up for like 5 or 6 bucks in the bargain bin and what a gem it is. The game takes full use of the dual analogs on the PSone controllers as w/out it, you can't play it. The game basically has you doing a ton of different food for customers in a restaurant like french fries, spaghetti, tempura, gyouza, udon, pancakes, pouring beer etc. So like real food and beverages, you need to know the correct way and recipe to make this all work and this is where the beauty of the dual analogs come in. Like for cutting things, you move the left analog left a bit to move, say, a vegetable. u then use the right analog to cut, by pressing down. So the motion is "left down left down", however you are rated on how well you cut the vegetable. If pieces are not (approximately) evenly cut, you'll get a low score for cutting. These score determines the final product of the food and if the customer is happy or not. It will also lower your status bar (which means game over when it reaches zero). Not only do you have to do a good job making the food, you also got to watch for your customers (as they have a timer bar & certain customers are critics) and micro manage on things they order. Say 3 customers come in at the same time and 2 want ramens while the other wants an ice cream. ramens take few steps to make, and it would save time to accept both ramen orders instead of one. While the ramen is in the step of boiling the noodles, you should then go ahead w/ the ice cream order. It's things like these that make things hectic (especially on the later stages) and fun. After doing a good job w/ the customers, you're then pit in a iron-chef style competition against one of the frog enemies (if ya want to know, basically, these frogs basically want food domination in your world and it's up to you to beat them). Food isn't the only thing one needs to worry about as there are events where customers may eat and run, u then have to chase 'em down. another even involves calling the police for a drunkard, so a rotating telephone comes up and you need one analog to dial while the other analog pushes the correct number. I highly recommend this game if you like cooking games or enjoyed Cooking Mama.

Curry House Coco Ichibanya was another fun cooking game worth mentioning on the PS2. The game is based on a restaurant in Japan and as you can tell from the name, they focus on curry dishes. The game is essentially like OnR in which you prepare food and need to micro manage w/ the customers. However, unlike OnR this game is focuses more on the perfection of making curry dishes since it lacks the variety of foods. OnR only had curry rice and it took like 3-4 steps. Still, the game is great fun, but still can't beat OnR.

Getting off the cooking scene, i just wanted to make a note on the Kenichi PS2 fighting game from Capcom in which i picked up on friday. While the graphics are good for an anime fighter (sweet original anime intro too), it's simply too shallow like most anime fighters. U can't duck or jump in the game. you auto-guard high and low attacks when you don't press a thing (sorta like Tekken, but tekken only blocks highs/mids and you can still press back to block). The counter button is like DOA but most of the counter moves look crappy and don't deal much damage. Every one basically has the same moves (ie. qcf + light, qcf + strong, qcb + light, qcb + strong) and super moves (qcf ,qcf + strong). It's pretty pathetic. Speaking of super moves, the qcf x 2 + strong is hard to peform unless you use one of your power up gauges. It's still do-able w/out using the gauge though. So yeah, there goes a knock on controls. Combos are basically like tekken where you dial'em in or button mash and you'll sort of get something. If you're a fan of the Kenichi manga and anime, you'll obviously dig. However, for anime fans, the game's story mode will spoil ya since it skips a lot & goes way past the current episodes (ep.22 is only about halfway through the game's story mode). The mini games are fun for like the first 2-3 times and will get bored quickly after. In the end, can't recommend this game at all for any fighting game fans.

So, i'll end on a happy note w/ my two fave girls from the recently released Resort Boin game, Mika & Kanae. Happo's work is too awesome.

Where the fuck is my fave gal Touko from Boin? While Nao & Mitsugu are hawt (moreso for Nao), why didn't Touko return!!!!!

I'll finish up on iM@S soon and hopefully have something good.

Twin Pigtails

2007-03-14T08:28:00.000-04:00

Today's iM@S girls are the twins and the two pigtailed chicks, Ritsuko & Yayoi.

Latest Famitsu scores as seen in the mag:

Mist of Chaos (PS3, Idea Factory): 4 / 3 / 4 / 5 - (16/40) - that's the shite, literally. Still, one's gotta luv !F's chara design and art.
Bomberman Story DS (NDS, Hudson): 7 / 6 / 7 / 6 - (26/40)
Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Goku Densetsu (NDS, Bandai Namco): 6 / 6 / 7 / 8 - (27/40) - i'd have to say that's quite decent for a card game. For some reason, it doesn't look as good as the old Famicom and GB DBZ games. I never played the gay ass American Card came on GBA.
Crayon Shin-Chan DS: Arashi wo Yobu Nutte Crayoon Daisakusen! (NDS, Banpresto): 7 / 6 / 8 / 8 - (31/40)
Negima!? Chou Mahora Taisen Chuu: Checkiin Zenin Shuugou! Yappari Onsen Kichaimashitaa (NDS, Marvelous): 7 / 5 / 6 / 6 - (24/40)
Bomberman Land Portable (PSP, Hudson): 6 / 4 / 7 / 6 - (23/40)
Eyeshield 21: Field Saikyou no Senshi Tachi (Wii, Nintendo): 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (24/40) - this game looked cool. sucks about the mediocre score.
Musou Orochi (PS2, Koei): 9 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (33/40) - OH WOW! Gee that's surprising! Now w/ my sarcasm put aside, i'm actually looking forward to this almost rehash game. It could've scored a 10 and i'd still get. It's just i don't think it deserves such a high score.
Rozen Maiden: Geppetto Garden (PS2, Taito): 7 / 6 / 6 / 5 - (24/40) - A bummer score, but i'm still gonna get cuz it's a Rozen Maiden FIGHTING game!!

I just felt like doing a few game news cuz they're some of the best news so far this week. The biggest news for me has got to be the confirmation of Tales of the World for NA release yesterday. Being a Tales fanboy, i'm greatly hyped for this game after being a pirate and downloading the JP ISO :P. The game uses Abyss' flex range LMBS (THE BEST battle system in the series thus far) and like some of the ToW games, it features some charas (Nakiri Dungeon 3 had all charas from Tales games it used) from all the previous main Tales games except for Tempest. Might be a bummer to some since their fave charas might not be in but understandable cuz you have to recreate charas into 3D polygons. Though they could've just reused the old polygon charas they made Symphonia's and Abyss' battle arena (actually they did for some of the charas, but didn't include all of 'em). Regardless, this is a great game and unexpected from Namco Bandai since ToW games haven't been released because not all of the main Tales games have been translated (ie. Destiny 2 & Rebirth). So there's some hope that they might finally make it to NA shores, especially ToD 2 and it's recent PSP release in JPN. This announcement is also interesting cuz about a month ago Namco Bandai USA sent a survey to those who subscribed to Tales newsletter (yeah, i'm one of those ppl) regarding what NA fans want and value in their Tales games. So, if you're a Tales RPG fan, YOU MUST GET this game and support the Tales series in NA. I definitely can't wait for this baby!

The 2nd biggest news is Capcom officially coming on board w/ the Wii. That game is Treasure Island Z...and it looks kiddie :(. Whatev, as long as they're on board and it's a decent game, i'm happy :). Jeux-France jacked a snapshot from Famitsu and in return here's what JPN sources say to that w/ these 'cleaner' scans ^^ LOL

Another Wii news is Naruto: Clash of the Ninja MVZ was announced for the NA Wii yesterday. The exclusive charas most likely indicate that this is Naruto Shippuuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen EX since there's no way the cartoon in NA has caught up w/ JPN. Or it could be a totally hacked up mish mashed game exclusively for NA as the press states. If it IS EX, this is surprising as one didn't expect this game to come out so soon cuz companies usually DO wait for the series to catch up. Though it may be confusing for the mainstream audience (and ENG manga readers) to see grown up Naruto charas, it's sort of a good move to release a new game while it's still fresh and not too dated IMO. It's also good for naruto internet watchers :P. If it is EX, i probably won't get it if it only includes the Eng. dub. I'll wait until a Wii free loader is made. Still don't trust the modchip yet. By then the sequel(s) will probably be out and much better of course.

3 iM@Sketeers

2007-03-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Today it's the main three from the anime.

Also, PA's personal agent announced yesterday that they finally got in restock copies of DJ Max Portable 1 Korean version. So, don't miss out on this chance to have one the best PSP games. Sorry UK folks :(.

Finally, looks like it didn't take me long to give in to my weak-willed Hisayuki obsession. I preordered that Queen's Blade Comic Anthology that i mentioned 2 posts ago. I mean, how could a resist w/ a cover like this:

♥Ultra HAWWWT, me wuv me wuv♥

The Otome site also updated yesterday w/ a new Otome novel. It's part two of the Otome saga featuring Ayane. The novel is called My-ZHiME saga ~ Ayane's Hijyou (舞‐乙HiME列伝～アヤネ飛翔☆篇～). Once again, Hisayuki will have a little bit of input. The novel will be released April 10th. U can bet your ass that i'll be getting both this novel and QB Comic Antho. However, i won't get them until the end of May ;).

New Theme: i'M @n aSs

2007-03-11T22:30:00.000-04:00

Seriously, everytime I see "iM@S", that's how i read it to myself in my head, (probably out loud too ^^). Anyways, since i haven't done a theme in a while, i decided to pick iDOL M@STER since it's based on an arcade game as well as a recently released Xbox 360 game. I'll be also doing Xenoglossia, thus it'll coincide w/ my game & anime interest. Though i'm not a fan of the game since i do not have access to play it (nor have any particular interest in playing it after watching a friend play it), I am a fan of the simple yet great character designs, which were done by legendary Lunar artist, Toshiyuki Kubooka. It's because of Kubooka that got me interested in learning about the game itself as I loved his character designs for Lunar. However, unlike iM@S, i like the Lunar games. Thus, after learning that Kubooka worked on this game, I wondered how his art fared over the years. It has still got a bit of his distinct style, but iM@S's designs are much simpler than his old Lunar designs. Especially the faces, an area that was already 'simple' for the Lunar characters. The simplicity is most likely because Namco wanted them to be simple so they would translate well (and easier) in 3D. As for me covering Xenoglossia, well, it's one of the Spring shows that I'm looking forward to and hope to follow mainly cuz it's Sunrise. That and cuz the show will undoubtedly become a hit w/ anime fans, since it contains all the pedigrees to make a show popular. A plot to keep the world @ peace? check. Robot/Mechas? check. A well known staff and animation production in charge? check. Action/violence? check. Cute underage school girls? check. Fanservice for the horny boys? check. So yeah, there's more than enough that this is gonna be a hit w/ the anime fanboys and girls. It's already a franchise in the making being loosely based off the game. Aside from the show being from Sunrise, i'm looking forward to the show cuz of the animated forms of some of my fave chicks from the game (from appearances of course). Oh, AND the mecha action in the comiket 71 trailer cuz i'd be lying if i said no. However, i'm having hard time listening to the lead, Asami Haruka (Iguchi Yuka). Her voice in the anime just annoys me for some reason. I would've preferred if they had used the seiyuus from the game. Well, just for Haruka (Nakamura Emiko).

So yeah, expect more frequent updates SOLELY consisting of iDOL M@STER promo art. I might stick a post w/ content/rant in there ^_^. Finally for those who care, here's the chicks i dig from the game and anime, based on appearance and designs:

iM@S game:
1. Miki Hoshii
2. Azusa Miura
3. Chihaya Kisaragi
4. Makoto Kikuchi

iM@S anime:
1. Azusa Miura
2. Chihaya Kisaragi
3. Hotaru Yasuhara
4. Makoto Kikuchi

I'm sure most of my picks aren't too surprising since it's known that i like my chicks "developed". I actually like the minor looking characters in the anime more than Makoto's anime design (ie. Chikako & Naze), but decided to stick her in there even though it looks like she won't play a huge role out of the rest of the school girls. Yeah, i'm not a fan of any of the main 3 in the show (they look so stereotypical in personalities), but if i had to pick one of the 3, i guess i would go w/ Iori even though yukiho is the most "developed" of the three. Iori looks like she's got a spunky (but also bitchy attitude) that i might like. Still, not a fan of the 3, hopefully they'll have some good development that will change my impressions when the show begins.

One of my fave iM@S art featuring ever hawt Miki & Chihaya, oh, and Ritsuko :P ^^. If Azusa was in there, it would've been PUUUUURRRFECT. Thanks to Digi for letting me know about this cover ;).

So, Do I want to live in Sangenjaya Bitch?

2007-03-07T07:51:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not talking about the district. Though, someone like wrex would be more suitable talking about it ^_^ (i'm still waiting on pt.2 of Akihabara :P). I'm actually talking about DJ MAX Portable 2 and the title is in reference to this song I downloaded a while ago by someone called DJ Max w/ the song obviously titled Sangenjaya ;) ^^. This post is mainly a purchase/thought rant for those who care.

For those who've been following, I did an entry on DJ MAX Portable last month and have influenced even johnny to get/track to down the Korean version of this game. So it's no surprise that i'm a fan of the game (and series) thanks to my friend, or maybe it should be NO THANKS. Since I didn't have a PSP at the time when the Prestige Box came out. I mentioned I would get the LE of DJMAXP2 when that one came out. Well, it was announced last month and for those who aren't rabid game news gurus, the LE is called Orpheus Package and it comes it two flavas: Night Black and Metallic Silver and there's only 1000 of the produced. So yeah, they're really LIMITED. You can check out what comes inside these beauties at Ruliweb of course. While the Orpheus package costs about 90-100 bucks US if you buy it in Korea, Play-Asia was selling it for 150 bucks US, not including shipping. They're the only import shop known that had preorders for the both Night Black and Metallic Silver. They were also tricky by not announcing when they had preorders, thus, one had check their site almost daily to see when they would go up. So it wasn't until last week that they discretely put up preorders in the morning. Night Black was sold out immediately, w/ Metallic Silver following not long after. However, preorders were put up once again later on in the day and NB was gone once again w/ MS being presold by the next morning. Well, being the game guru that i am, i managed to snag a Night Black during the morning of the preorders, as I was just surfing on the net during class, pretending to take notes :P.

Now as you see, this game costs me just over 200 bones CDN and i'm like thinking, "that's fucking expensive.". So i'm currently in a dilemma. Do I want the LE or not? I had thoughts of selling it on ebay (a preorder went for 300 bucks US recently) and just burning the soundtrack. I would get the game afterwards with profits. But I would think "hey, this is a really rare collector's item." . Thus, I'm currently undecided as I got to see how I fare by the end of the month financially. As money should be spent on needs not wants (yeah, like i listen to myself all the time ;)). My social life isn't making this any easier either. Oh well, we'll see.

And I'll finish off as always w/ the latest Famitsu reviews (heh, quite a few girly games next week due to White Day):

Sonic to Himitsu no Ring [Sonic and the Secret Rings] (Wii, Sega): 9 / 8 / 8 / 7 - (32/40)
Theme Park DS (NDS, EA): 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (28/40)
Survival Kids: Lost in Blue 2 (NDS, Konami): 8 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
Bionicle Heroes (NDS, EA): 6 / 6 / 7 / 6 - (25/40)
Kaseki Chou-Shinka Spectrobes (NDS, Disney): 6 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (26/40)
Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side: 1st Love (NDS, Konami): 7 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (31/40)
KuruPoto (NDS, Starfish): 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 - (20/40)
KuruKuru Princess: Figure de KiraKira Koori no Angel (NDS, Spike): 6 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (26/40)
SpongeBob to Nakamatachi (NDS, THQ): 6 / 6 / 4 / 7 - (23/40)
Kotoba no Puzzle: Mojipittan DS (NDS, Bandai Namco): 9 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (33/40)
Tottoko Hamutaro Haai! Hamu-Chans no Hamu Hamu Challenge! Atsumare Haai! (NDS, Marvelous): 7 / 6 / 7 / 6 - (26/40)
Garouden Break Blow: Fist or Twist (PS2, ESP): 7 / 8 / 6 / 6 - (27/40) - Heh, I was semi-interested since this is a fighting game, looks like a pass for me
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (PS2, EA): 7 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (27/40)
Shijou Saikyou no Teishi: Kenichi (PS2, Capcom): 7 / 8 / 8 / 6 - (29/40) - This mediocre score won't stop me from gettin' as Miu and the chicks are hawt. Too bad Shigure (who's the hawtest) isn't playable. Anyways, i'm just looking forward to this cuz it's a CAPCOM FIGHTING GAME!!
Kiniro no Corda 2 (PS2, Koei): 8 / 7 / 8 / 9 - (32/40)
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab (PS2, THQ): 7 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (27/40)
G1 Jockey Wii (Wii, Koei): 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 - (31/40)

Dengeki PS2

Vitamin X (PS2, D3): 70 / 85 / 85 / 75
Shijou Saikyou no Teishi: Kenichi (PS2, Capcom): 80 / 70 / 70 / 75
Kiniro no Corda 2 (PS2, Koei): 90 / 95 / 80 / 90

If you want the full uncropped version of the pics, go to Ruliweb for the full watermarked version :P.

March 9th '07 9:28 AM edit: too lazy to make a real post. i just want to note that the Queen's Blade Anthology comic is up for preorder at AJ, though i guess ppl won't be getting it from AJ now. The book is to be released near the end of April. If I do get it, i'll probably get it in May along w/ Zwei 3 ;). The reason I may get this, is only cuz Hisayuki did the cover for this book (Hisayuki finished the cover only a week ago) just like some of the HiME comic anthology books (which i sorta regret buying as the art from the other artists are meh, some stories were funny though). Details on the comic and ppl involved can be read at Amiami's link. Not many from the QB staff. I'm on the fence w/ this one, i'll see if i submit later ^^.

Bleach Dome Boobie Buster Kick!

2007-02-28T07:10:00.001-05:00

I got most of these stuff in the beginning of Feb. Gunbuster was the last item that came in 2 weeks ago (a bit earlier than street date). I got Bleach vol.25 HK edition the 1st week of Feb along w/ Black Lagoon 6 HK iirc. So yeah, it'll be another 2 months before i get vol.26 HK as the Japanese tank was just recently released. Though i don't have Bleach Wii, i picked up the Bleach Wii FP DVD from my import store. They had it in the bargain bin for some reason for only 0.99 cents. Nothing special as the meat of DVD basically has 4 of the seiyuus having a tournament of the game. Though i don't usually post my JPN games purchases, The Ayumi Hamasaki Visual Dome Tour is there cuz her A Best 2 (Black & White) CDs come out today ('yesterday') officially. I also got this in the beginning of the month from PA since it was only 7 bucks US roughly. It's also somewhat of a rare item. If you're wondering why I didn't post these items earlier it's cuz i didn't want to 'steal' my AJ order's thunder :P.

As usual, i bring you the latest Famitsu scores

Virtua Tennis 3 [Power Smash 3] (PS3, Sega): 8 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (28/40) - wow, that's disappointing
Karous (DC, MileStone): 6 / 6 / 6 / 7 - (25/40)
Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana (NDS, Square Enix): 9 / 8 / 8 / 7 - (32/40)
Doraemon: Nobita no Shin Makai Daibouken DS (NDS, Sega): 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 - (31/40)
Yoshi's Island DS (NDS, Nintendo): 9 / 7 / 8 / 8 - (32/40)
Kenka Banchou 2: Full Throttle (PS2, Spike): 7 / 8 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
Amekoushi no Kan (PS2, Nippon Ichi): 7 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (31/40)
Bomberman Land Wii (Wii, Hudson): 7 / 6 / 7 / 7 - (27/40)

Looks like I was stupid w/ the My-HIME Destiny ~Ryu no Fujo/Miko~ novel as I had to carefully re-read the info. Never knew Novel Japan was a light novel mag and thus who knows when the full novel itself will be out. i'm tempted to get Novel Japan now just for those pages of Destiny. I don't think I will (yet) as Hisayuki isn't the main artist for the light novel, just the chara design (thus, only sketches/production art and maybe 1 promo art i expect from him). Though, I am a huge fan of Sankichi Meguro as well (artist for Teizokurei Daydream, which i love) and Meguro's adapts Hisayuki's style very nicely. So i'll see how long i'll hold out, prolly until May ^^.

finally, i'm sure y'all loved ep.116 last week ;).

Fully Loaded

2007-02-23T20:18:00.000-05:00

So yeah, I got lucky as my AJ order arrived in 1 day, but i got charged w/ customs Orz. It's been about 3 months since I've had a R2 orgy and I probably won't have another one for another 3 months. Anyways, I already mentioned what i'd be getting in this post and i already mentioned my little dilemma yesterday about My-HIME Destiny ~Ryu no Fujo/Miko~ (rough trans. probably not even right). Yeah, they're all items that you know i'm a HUGE FAN of so no big surprises. I'll go into a bit of details w/ all the books.

The AJ items are Barrage Rei Hiroe Artworks, Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society Visual Book, My-HiME & My-ZHiME figure special, My-ZHiME Saga ~Ayane Kourin ♥ Hen~, My:Otome Zwei vol.2 Limited Edition w/ Arika fig, Change 123 tank vol.4 and Lives "Raibusu" vol.1 were added last minute. I got Black Lagoon vol.6 HK version in the beginning of the month (@ YA) but added it in the pic to coincide w/ Barrage :D.

I'll start off w/ the Otome items first. Zwei vol.2 LE is the same old DVD & CD (w/ new ending song [storm]) but we get a actual fig this time (screw that lame mikoto fig). It's also my first fig in more than half a year i think. Of course, i didn't really want it, i just buy everything LE that is HiME/ZHiME :P. The fig is your standard CM trading fig kind. Now most CM HiME/ZHiME figs are crap quality. This one isn't too bad, it's one of the better ones like the ones that came in MH vol.6-8 R2. It comes w/ two bases actually, a rubber one and your standard plastic. The plastic hooks and sticks are included as well of course. Here's a shot:

It was a quick setup as i was too lazy to get the hooks and poles set up

The My-HiME & My-Otome figure special book is basically a book to show me how much awesome and crappy HiME/ZHiME related figs I missed out on buying but also reminding me how much money i saved (but spent elsewhere :P). So every single HiME/ZHiME figure ever released up till Jan/Feb is covered in detail, with some in more detail than others. A couple of future releases are taken as well (show in one of my samples below). The book also contains production sketches from both HiME and ZHiME. These are nothing new if you own the R2 DVDS, 1st two HiME mooks (or some of the other books) as well as the Otome Perfect guide. It does contain some new sketches and art at the time of it's release (as vol.2 zwei's insert booklet has some of these sketches as well). The most interesting sketch is the character comparison chart as we see the fumi silhouette.

The Ayane Kourin novel is basically the same as the MH Side-A & Side-B novels that I have. So, like a novel, it's mostly all text & story. Maruto is not in charge of the art this time but the artist known as Tachibana Seven (the artist responsible for the Feb 28th manga, My-Ztome Saga ryu to otome no namida). Unlike the Side A & B novels, the artwork isn't presented at the chapter titles but spreadout through the chapters. Seven's art basically mimics Hisayuki's style but is far more simple and less detailed. Seven also doesn't draw any background art. However, because he mimics Hisayuki's art, I've decided to get the manga now. Other art in the novel includes the usual insert coloured art in the beginning. For this novel, it's a fold out. It features a Hisayuki drawn Ayane Hazakura on one side, w/ a Tachibana Seven art featuring Ayane, Nicola ("ni-ko-ra") & "Ku-ra-ri-ssa" (i'll just call her Carissa). Nicola and Carissa are the other two main charas in the story. The back of the novel features Hisayuki sketches of the main charas and minor charas. So we see Ayane in her meister robe, sketches of Erstin's ancestor Carissa Ho and Nichola Rei Fran (Ayane's 14 year old classmates), Pearl no.1 Sophia amongst others. These sketches are all available at the Otome Big Bang site if ya didn't know. I haven't attempted to read the story as i just got it and it will take a me awhile to get thru. The manga will probably make things easier when released.

The GitS SAC SSS visual book is essentially the same as the other visual books detailing on some of the story aspects of the movie as well as recapping the laughing man and individual 11 stories. production art is mostly from the movie but some old production art from the 1st two visual books are shown as well. There's a talk/interview w/ kamiyama and another one w/ ohtsuka & yamadera. a page of gits products is shown. a lot of detail on the nissan as expected. there's also the usual comic at the end. i'm glad that they had a textless version of the cover art from the first 2 visual books shown on one page each as they're awesome. Sadly, they didn't have the cover for this book shown in glory.

Barrage Rei Hiroe Artworks is a fantastic artbook. It collects most of the works he's done. You get all his Black Lagoon cover art (in textless form) as well as the coloured interiors of the manga shown originally in GX. You also get all promo art he's done for BL. A lot of his other works are shown like his other mangas (ie. Shook up), some comiket art; covers drawn for novels & other mangas; game artwork that he's done. It's all amazing stuff if you're a mega fan like i am. Sadly none of his adult doujin stuff shown. Meh, i have most of 'em anyways, but sux for others. The other half of the artbook is actually a reprint of this manga he did in 2000, which got a limited release in 2003. The manga is Phantom Bullet and it's pretty sweet as I was trying to track it down on YJA a couple of years ago (prices were a ripoff though).

Finally I'll just mention Lives 'Lives' The Monster's World. Those following my blog know that i read a bunch of manga unknown to most, and have been purchasing them. Lives is the new one this time. I got this one simply for the cover...i mean come on, how hawt is that chick?! However, i knew Lives was by Masayuki Taguchi, therefore if the story sucked, i knew at least the art will be great. For those who don't know, Taguchi is the artist for the Battle Royale mangas. Unlike BR, he does the art AND story. So yeah, the guy can draw some very hawt females and some good looking dudes, but also some really nasty looking dudes. Judging so far from vol.1, Lives isn't as gory as BR (though there is gore), nor does it contain any explicit sex (like BR). There is nudity though but not so much as BR (no crazy mitsuko chara currently :P). With BR being the last art i've seen from Taguchi (don't want to touch the older baron gong battle, unless i find the HK version), his artwork has greatly improved over the past 6 years. I'll probably be picking up the future tanks as i'm interested in seeing where this will go, also i want to see more Hatsuki (hottie on the cover) & Kyoka (other hottie in the book).

I have other stuff that i haven't shown yet, but i'll save it for later as i got pics to use for 'em ^_~.

'2-3' in '2' ep.2

2007-02-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

Too many twos :D. This is a HiME/ZHiME rant if anyone cares. Anyways, checked out ep.2 of Zwei as I couldn't wait for my R2 DVD. My impressions, like last episode was that it's purely fanservice and I don't care for the thin plot that the show's heading into. Besides, it's only 4 episodes and sometimes you either can or can't develop a good story within that time frame. And in Otome's case, you can't due to the immense cast the show has. So yeah, the episode was basically like episode 1, where animation and art are not too different from a well animated episode from the TV series. Again, it's only slightly improved and you wouldn't notice that much of a difference. Though episode 2 seemed slightly better in both departments, slightly. Music-wise, same old Kajiura stuff. There's no new music from her, at least from what I heard. This episode you even get good ol' My-HiME music like the last episodes of My-Otome from the TV series. ED song is a new one once again. In the fanservice department, this was a treat to the Haruka, Chie, Yukino, Tomoe (yay me wuv) and Sara fans. Chie and her delta squad were interesting. Her magic (literally) powers looked dumb, though effective. Tomoe was hawt and crazee, yeah what a combo. Loved that kick she gave. Haruka had the most action, however, that isn't say too much as she threw like 3-4 moves :(. However, she did redeem herself by pulling a Suzushiro Haruka at the end...oh yeah, that's what expected of her from hard work and guts (you can guess what i rewatched ^^). Sara was a big disappointment. I was hoping to see more of her in action, however all she showed was a stealth camouflage power she had. Her transformation sequence wasn't all too special either. However, she did provide in the naughty fanservice department. Not really naughty but she won this department in this episode by giving us bouncing boobs in which Arika ruled in ep.1. Next episode will surely give us some Nao and Nina fanservice (and probably Sergay for the chicks :P) as they actually had lines this episode. The "next episode preview" showed some interesting sketches w/ what looks like to be a Royal Rumble as we see some of the other Meister Otomes in a wrestling ring. However, one shouldn't take this seriously yet. As ep.1's end preview didn't show any of the sketches in action in ep.2 (Haruka was in action but we didn't see her 'transformation pose' here). Thus, my hunch is that ep.1's end preview could perhaps be scenes from ep.3 and/or 4, same w/ episode 2's end preview (though that one could be the last episode as it looks more 'fun'). Then again, the sketches may mean nothing at all and are simply gags. Wouldn't surprise me if so since they look like it, in a way. However, I did love the underboobage service it gave w/ Akane and...ROSALIE's new outfit....hawt...yesh yesh.

Finally, I should be having a stuff pic soon. mainly stuff i got this week and in the beginning of feb. I talked w/ AJ and they don't know anything so far about the My-HiME Destiny ~龍の巫女~ as it's still not listed on (as of today) on their site. The book is supposed to be out Feb. 26 (28th for the manga). So I coudn't preorder it or the manga, though i'm not too sure if i want the manga. AJ is usually late w/ the novels when preordering. They usually have it listed a week or 3-5 days before it streets. I haven't seen the book listed on any of the big JPN book sites for the past couple of weeks either. So there may be a delay. I hope so, cuz I'm gonna be sort of pissed if they have it listed later today, tomorrow, on the weekend as i asked to have my order on hold. I should've just preordered something i didn't want to delay it. Reason I'd be pissed is cuz I have nothing I'm gonna order from AJ (or any other JPN import shops) until May 25 which is the release date for My-Otome Zwei vol.3 and I don't want to wait that long for the novel. Thus, my R2 order was shipped today and if i'm lucky, i'll get it tomorrow but the latest on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully some store like YesAsia or Play-Asia will have it cuz I plan to order from them in the near future as shipping for a book is a ripoff by itself from AJ and other stores.

2007-02-21T10:00:00.000-05:00

Famitsu

Gundam Musou (PS3, Bandai Namco): 9 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (33/40) - good score, then again most Musou games reviewed by Famitsu have gotten good scores...how odd :P ^^
Bakegyamon: Ayakashi Fighting (NDS, Takara Tomy): 4 / 4 / 4 / 3 - (15/40) - ahahha, saw the CM laughed my ass off
Unou no Tatsuhin! Soukai! Machigai Museum 2 (NDS, Bandai Namco): 8 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (30/40)
Super Robot Taisen W (NDS, Banpresto): 8 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (32/40) - not a big SRT fan but good stuff as usual
Akudaikan 3 (PS2, Global A): 7 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (25/40)

yesh Kallen yeeesssh

Dengeki PS

Gundam Musou (PS3, Bandai Namco): 95 / 90 / 85 / 85
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (PS3, Sony): 70 / 80 / 70 / 85
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP, Capcom): 85 / 90 / 95 / 85
Akudaikan Manyuuki: Seigi no Yaiba (PSP, Global A): 75 / 80 / 65 / 65
Kenka Banchou 2: Full Throttle (PS2, Spike): 80 / 70 / 65 / 80

2007-02-20T16:06:00.000-05:00

Life's goal: Be Healthwii & Wiialthy

2007-02-16T16:57:00.000-05:00

That's everyone's goal isn't it? Anyways, this is the main post today as the new T6 trailer took me by surprise. Rarely do i ever post twice in a day. I want KoFXII trailer soon! So anyways, i finally picked up my Wii Play w/ wiimote as it's been on hold for me at EB since Monday. I only bought for the extra remote. I should even sell it cuz Wiimotes (and nunchuks) are very scarce in Canada still, thus making this game already hard to find. I probably won't play these crap ass demos until next week as i'm heading home for Chinese New Year. I've also started going back to the gym again due to laziness and school. Thus i lost all my tone and def. Need to get my six pack going again as well. That is why i sorta included this month's Men's Health mag (which i purchase almost every month) :D, as this is my 'Health' post and playing the Wii does make you healthy...sort of, for a bit. I've had quite a few games, mangas, dvds arrive over the past weeks. i haven't posted them as i'm saving for a bigger orgasmic post and a theme i plan on doing. So Wii Play is nuthin really, just an excuse for 'health' ^^.

Anyways, don't feel like getting pics for Chinese New Year, so I'll end off w/ the hottest (and my fave) Chinese video game chick ever, drawn by the awesome Alvin Lee, coloured by Monk. My fave CHN anime chick would be Sei from BakuTen (she's from CHN heritage though her name doesn't sound like it :P). She better be in the OVA next month or i'll be filled w/ RAGE!!! Have a happy Chinese New Year for those who celebrate it! YAY for RED POCKET MONEY!!!!

Hot Shiizzaat

2007-02-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

New Tekken 6 charas announced from AOU 07. Check out the usual JPN pages (Impress, Famitsu, Dengeki etc.) for news. Check IGN, Gamespot, Siliconera, Joystiq etc. for english news when they appear. Leo sure looks like an effeminate Rock Howard 0_o. Zafina is the new hawt chick and i'm looking forward to learning her. Check out the official site for shots and pics. Here's a quick link to Dengeki who covers most of the stuff already along w/ asuka shot and Jack's new look. Most of the aforementioned sites has the trailer for download.

leave u? if i value my life? hell's no!

anyways, i'll have my another post today but i had to post this as regulars would know how hardcore i am about tekken ^^. other arcade games like silent hill arcade and konami's otomedius (part of the '-dius' gangs) look cool, dig the miine art. where's my SF4 dammit! don't tell i got to wait for the 20th birthday!!

Good ol' Chocolate & Roses day

2007-02-14T15:39:00.000-05:00

Been busy today setting up for valentine's but it's wed. and as usual, i bring you the latest famitsu scores (even though i'm sorta late as i post 'em in da morning) for those who care.

Famitsu Scores:

Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami (Wii, Nintendo): 8 / 8 / 8 / 9 - (33/40) - Good news, though i've never been a fan of the series
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP, Capcom): 9 / 8 / 9 / 8 - (34/40) - SICK GUY SICK!
Sim City DS (NDS, EA): 7 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (31/40)
Riot Act [Crackdown] (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 9 / 8 / 8 / 9 - (34/40)
Splinter Cell: Nijuu Spy (Xbox 360, Ubisoft): 7 / 8 / 8 / 9 - (32/40)
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (PS3, Sony): 7 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (31/40)
Trigger Heart Exelica (DC, Warashi): 7 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (25/40)
Naruto Shippuuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen EX (Wii, Takara Tomy): 6 / 6 / 6 / 7 - (25/40) - that fucking sux
Boku wa Koukuu Kanseikan DS (NDS, Interchannel): 7 / 6 / 7 / 7 - (27/40)
Nova Usagi no Game de Ryuugaku!? DS (NDS, Konami): 6 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (26/40)
Keroro Gunsou: Enshuu da Yo! Zenin Shuugou Part 2 (NDS, Bandai Namco): 7 / 6 / 7 / 6 - (26/40)
Akudaikan Manyuuki: Seigi no Yaiba (PSP, Global A): 5 / 4 / 7 / 6 - (22/40)
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 (PSP, THQ): 5 / 7 / 6 / 6 - (24/40)
Simple 2500 Series Portable Vol. 9: The My Taxi! (PSP, D3): 6 / 5 / 7 / 5 - (23/40)
Higurashi no Naku Kei ni Matsuri (PS2, Alchemist): 9 / 8 / 8 / 6 - (31/40)
Shoujo Mahou Gaku Little Witch Romanesque (PS2, Success): 6 / 7 / 6 / 5 - (24/40)
Destroy All Humans! (PS2, Sega): 8 / 9 / 7 / 7 - (31/40)
Soukou Kihei Armodyne (PS2, Sony): 8 / 8 / 7 / 6 - (29/40)
Simple 2000 Series Vol. 113: The Tairyou Jigoku (PS2, D3): 4 / 5 / 5 / 4 - (18/40)
Reijou Tantei: Office Love Jiken (PS2, D3): 6 / 6 / 6 / 5 - (23/40)
Aoi Sora no Neosphere: Nanoka Franka no Hatsumei Koubouki 2 (PS2, Nippon Ichi): 7 / 7 / 8 / 5 - (27/40)
Lupin III: Lupin ni wa Shi o, Zenigata ni wa Koi o (PS2, Banpresto): 7 / 5 / 8 / 5 - (25/40) -
The Jokouppichi Torimonochou - Oanechan Go Go Go! (PS2, D3): 4 / 5 / 4 / 6 - (19/40) - i'm contemplating this one as the chick is loli-looking...but w/ big boobs, thus me no like. still i'm a sucker for DW type games and having played through the previous Oanechan ('cept vortex of course), might as well give it a go.
Ah megami-Sama (PS2, Marvelous): 5 / 6 / 6 / 7 - (24/40) - i might check it out simply for the rarity of AMG games

I also want to note that VF5 for EVO!!!!! man i wish i could go. i hope there'll be a good turn out for that game. also for those who have wii, there's a new 'everyone vote channel' that went up yesterday, in which my 'blue wii' got today. some interesting polls to vote on. like best gifts on valentines: roses or chocolates. there's also a world one like do you like cats or dogs. not really a fun channel but interesting i guess, especially the valentine's poll. anyways, to all those w/ lady friends or guy friends, i hope you enjoy the most romantic day of the year. i know i will ^^.

Shopping w/ the Amazon

2007-02-13T13:46:00.000-05:00

An advertising post here today one could say. so if anyone is into games and lives in Canada, you might want to take a look at the clearance games Amazon.ca has. There's some future rare games here that's on sale and you might not want to miss out. I purchased like 2 games but since i'm on a budget, i combined it for a future order. thus, it won't arrive for another couple of months. i'm in no hurry as i'm slowly chugging along my backlog every now and then.

Good deals i'd say for PS2 are: Shin Megami Tensei Raidou vs. Souless Army, only cuz it's Atlus and all Atlus/Atlus released games become rare afterwards. It's only 20 bucks CDN. Next is Socom Combined Assault for 24 bucks CDN. This is a good deal only cuz it's a fairly new game. I own all 3 SOCOM games but I'll get it later on when the price drops to 20 bucks as it's a given seeing that it's a Sony game and all Socoms have become Greatest Hits. But if you're one who can't wait another 3-5 months, a very good buy. Then you got FFXII RE (of course, as the CE is a EB/Gamespot exclusive) for only 25.99 CDN. Hopefully for those who got this on release date finished the game already, unlike me, who just finished it sometime last month. If you haven't i laugh at you :P, for paying so much and not waiting for this deal. Of course who would've known. It's so not worth 59.99 CDN, though that's the same price i paid for the CE, so good deal 4 me ^^. Lastly it's Lego Star Wars (2) the Original Trilogy. A short game like the first but damn fun. I rented this when it came out and this is the only PS2 one i ordered as it's only 20 bucks CDN. A GH version will come out but 3rd party GHs are usually 24.99-29.99.
edit: they upped the price for FFXII to 53.99 now. my rant is now pointless. If you purchased it at 25.99 before the hike, good job.

Next up is PS3: well, almost all games at launch are priced at 49.99 CDN instead of the usual 69.99. However, all the games at launch were pretty shat, thus, i don't recommend any games here. There's no Resistance, the only worthy game to buy of the launch titles. However, personally, i have no interest in it even if it were included and i had a PS3.

The PSP's only good deal is Pursuit Force for 19.99 CDN. The rest aren't great or that much of a bargain. This is the other game that i got as i have had some play time w/ it. The game has glitches, a bit of control issues and can be a bit hard but it's a very fun game w/ awesome production values. Thus, it's a deal for me. I'm sure this will be a future GH as PF 2 has already been announced for PSP and PS2.

PC games: i don't play much but there's a lot of good deals for the widely known games like Neverwinter Nights 2, WoW (u don't want to get into that), Gothic 3 and RS: Vegas.

The Wii only has Trauma Center worth buying at 39.99 CDN. I didn't lose too much seeing as i paid 49.99 CDN and finished the game 2 weeks after I got my Wii. However, for those holding out, this is a great buy right now. The other games are ho hum. Maybe Marvel UA and Red Steel, but i suggest getting these mediocre titles later and cheaper.

No good deals i can recommend in the NGC page.

Nothing on the DS page as well.

On the GBA page: The GBA has some great games on clearance. Summon Night 1 & 2 for 21.99 CDN. These will undoubtedly become rare. FFIV Advance for 19.99 CDN and Gunstar Super Heroes for 18.99.
edit: those sneaky bastards at Amazon Canada changed FFIV Advance to the french version for 20 bucks and upped the price of Summon Night 1 to 26.99.

X360: Undoubtedly the best deal is Gears of War for only 39.99 CDN. Call of Duty 3 would be next which is also priced at 39.99 CDN. If you want your (crappy) Japanese fix on the 360 you got the shat game of Phantasy Star Universe for 20 bucks. And If you want to get lower than that, there's the softcore polygon 'porn' of DOAX2 for 39.99...sad.
edit: once again those sneaky bastards changed GoW to a French version, usually french versions in canada just include french instructions but w/ the game in Eng. so i'm not totally sure if AC does have french version.

Xbox: Sadly, there's nothing i could recommend on the Xbox page except for Capcom Classics v.2 for only 13.99 CDN. It's a great retro game if you don't have the PS2 or PSP versions. The rest are mainly inferior ports. Lego Star Wars 2 isn't a good deal either as you can get the PS2 one for 10 bucks cheaper and graphically, it's not that much better.

I'll end off w/ a chick who's actually hot & suits my title ^^.

Take it to the MAX

2007-02-06T23:19:00.000-05:00

So, lately I've been playing A LOT of this PSP game that was released a year ago. I remember reading about it last year but since i didn't have a PSP at the time, i didn't care much about the game, plus i'm not big on rhythm based games except for the Guitar Hero games, Parappa 1 and Gitaroo-man. Though I own quite a few rhythm based games (cuz ppl say they're good), i mainly played these 4 when they came out, with the exception of the Guitar Hero games which I still play w/ friends every so often due to it's "non-japaneseness" and GH2 is still fairly recent. My friend has had it for a while and I asked him to borrow it since the sequel is coming out this month and i wanted to know how good it was. So, without further ado, this PSP game is none other than DJ Max Portable.

DJMP is a Korean PSP game by Pentavision. It's basically a blatant ripoff of Konami's rhythm games, namely Beatmania, as not only is the gameplay the exact same (no controller though since it's on PSP but just think of playing w/ da pad) but the interface as well (ie. music video on the right hand side). This game is available for the PC/internet in it's native Korean language, as well as Chinese and Japanese. So what makes this game so great seeing that it's a ripoff konami's game? Well, there isn't many good rhythm based games on PSP and most importantly Beatmania isn't available on PSP. Though the gameplay doesn't offer anything particularly new, it's fun, addictive and really challenging, as you have the option of picking between 4, 6 or 8 buttons. You really have to have some amazing hand & finger dexterity to master 8 buttons, though i personally don't recommend on it for health issues ;). The music videos are all done in a cartoonish/korean 'anime' style. don't expect a full blown animated music video as it's mostly nice artwork w/ simple animations that have only a couple of frames. All music videos have varied artwork that go according to the music and track. Some are funny, some are cool, some have hot cartoon chicks and some are fucked up. It's great all around. Speaking of animation, the game boasts an anime-style intro that is quite boobalicious. Now what about the music? Of course, one can't play a rhythm based game w/out great music and this it where DJMP delivers in spades. There's a huge variety of songs and styles that will hook almost anyone. Most vocals are in either Korean or English (korean style :P). There's over 50 songs for ppl to enjoy and i'm sure you will find several tracks that you like. And even if you don't like some of the other songs, you'll still enjoy listening/playing them in the game. I downloaded the OST immediately and have been listening to Every Morning, Oblivion, Jupiter Driving, Ray of Illuminati, Piano Concerto No.1, Ask a Favour of a Wind constantly. So if you got a PSP and dig Konami rhythm games, you should definitely check this game out. Though the game is Korean, it's almost entirely in English. Buy it download it, whatever. If you do buy it, just make sure you get the Korean version and not the International version. Why? Cuz the international version is censored (ie.lyrics) and some of the tracks are missing...seriously WTF? Even though it has one new track, missing tracks and censored existing tracks is not a fair trade off. SO DON'T BUY THE INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Thus, finding a Korean version is sorta hard and that is why u you should download the Korean ISO as it's easily available. My friend has the Korean version as he got it very early when the game came out and thus, i've resorted to ISO version. So if you can homebrew, u know what to do ^^. DJ MAX Portable 2 has been up for preorder for a couple of weeks now, so don't miss out on it this month. I'll probably wait till it goes slightly cheaper (though i may not cuz i'm afraid of a DJMP2 Int. version) or the release of an LE. If worse comes to worse...i always got ISO :D.
If you're still interested, check out the official site or youtube for various vids. U can find almost all the music videos to sample how good the music is, as well as the videos themselves. Here's a crazy mofo, while awesome, is gonna get arthritis :P:

The latest Famitsu Scores once again:
Famitsu

Layton Kyouju no Fushigi na Machi (NDS, Level 5): 8 / 8 / 8 / 9 - (33/40) - another brain age style game that does well...ho hum
Bleach DS 2nd: Kokui Hirameku Requiem (NDS, Sega): 8 / 7 / 8 / 7 - (30/40) - disappointed by this score, will still be awesome to fans regardless
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (PSP, EA): 7 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (27/40)
Lumines II (PSP, Q Entertainment): 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 - (31/40)
Soul Cradle: Sekai o Kurau Mono (PS2, Nippon Ichi): 8 / 8 / 7 / 7 / - (30/40)
Appleseed EX (PS2, Sega): 3 / 4 / 4 / 3 - (14/40) - very disappointed by this score, will still get for the awesome looking CG FMVs
Zero no Tsukaima (PS2, Marvelous): 6 / 7 / 6 / 5 - (24/40)

Dengeki PS

Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3, Sega): 90 / 90 / 85 / 85
Lumines II (PSP, Q Entertainment): 80 / 90 / 95 / 90
Soul Cradle: Sekai o Kurau Mono (PS2, Nippon Ichi): 80 / 85 / 80 / 75
Aoi Sora no Neosphere: Nanoka Franka no Hatsumei Koubouki 2 (PS2, Nippon Ichi): 90 / 90 / 75 / 80
Soukou Kihei Armodyne (PS2, Sony): 80 / 85 / 75 / 65

On a end note, Play-Asia has discounted a lot of their games/items today for Chinese New Year (booyeah for CNY), thus, I made some more purchases from them on some games (that i've been wanting for a while) today. Not only that, a few PS2 and a PSP game arrived today from PA that i made a couple of weeks ago. I may or may not post them later on in the month since they're JPN games, which I've traditionally not posted, unless it's HiME/ZHiME based :). They're not really rare games either.

February's 'Future'...

2007-02-03T18:28:00.000-05:00

Gonna take after my fave character (in SSGPXCF) Kaga here and go on a straight instant noodle run for the next while ^_^

...(and probably March's too) is not looking too good financially as i got quite a few stuff ordered and coming in the next two months. After a two month hiatus of no R2s, this month will hit me big. The most obvious reason would be the My-ZHiME ZWEI OVA vol.2 FP LE. However, over the past couple of months i've added quite a few items to that lone order. HiME fans would know about the Big Bang Project that has been going on w/ Sunrise and thus quite a few HiME/ZHiME related items have been/will be released/ing this month. So, currently my R2 HiME/ZHiME order will include My-ZHiME Zwei vol.2 LE, My-Otome Saga ~Ayane Kourin ♥ Hen~ novel, My-HiME & My-Otome figure special (*sniff sniff*...since i don't collect figs anymore and must oogle at 'em), My-HIME Destiny ~Ryu no Fujo/Miko~ novel, Barrage Rei Hiroe Artworks (cuz y'all know i'm also a huge Hiroe fan) and GitS SAC SSS visual book (cuz y'all know i'm a huge GitS SAC/Motoko fans as well ^^). I haven't decided about the My ZHIME Ryuu to Otome no Namida manga yet, since Hisayuki has no part, but if the artwork is good then I might get it. Though i did check out the website of the artist doing the manga and his/her work seems meh. Besides that order, i've got quite a few mangas (HK & JPN versions) coming. Some old, slightly rare PSX, PS2 and PSP games coming (you'll soon know). There's also a ton of new games i'm looking forward to in Feb & March as well, especially fighting games w/ 3 for the PS2!!! Some R1 animes mostly arriving in the middle of March. Lastly, some sweet ass tail lights for my car.

April will be pretty good as I only got My-HiME vol.7 SE w/ box and Black Lagoon SE vol.1 w/ box planned. Speaking of My-HiME vol.7 box, that box looks pretty fugly IMO. Now it's 100x better the crap ass vol.1 box + shirt in terms of quality but the art from that one shot i saw looks crappy. With the hundreds of HiME art to choose from, they had to go with the coloured production sketches...WTF x_x. At least the 1st box gave us promo art. I hope the other side contains a decent pic. The box looks to be a bit big for me. My room is packed as it is and i certainly don't need an huge average looking box to take up space in my collection. Thus, i'm whole heartedly disappointed w/ the R1 release in terms of packaging and i don't want to talk about the authoring of the 1st 4 volumes. With that aside, I'm looking forward to getting the final volume of one of my fave series ever (when i'll rewatch it remains a question as i've watched vol.9 of the R2 TOO MANY times already ^^). Speaking of HiME, it seems Bandai Ent. finally announced their license of My-ZHiME/Otome officially. The release date is not far off from the final volume of HiME either (June). Great news for fans. Y'all know i'm like the biggest HiME/ZHiME fan, however, unlike HiME, I don't plan on double dipping since a)the series wasn't as good as HiME b)not e'nuff of my trio (Natsuki, Mai & Midori 4 the 4gotten) c)I 'think' i've spent just about enough on the R2s ;) d)Bandai Ent.'s release of MH sucked ass and their releases over the past couple of year have been sucking ass, though there are a few exceptions (ie. GitS) and e)i need to spend that money elsewhere (school, car, gf, booze etc.) ^^. Anyways I'm happy for the announcement. Celebrate!

Hope y'all have a good Super Bowl weekend, that's if ya watch American Football. Pizza and Booze all day tomorrow...oooh yeeaah! There had better be some good commercials :P.