We have seen quite a few characters added to the Musou Stars roster over the past few months but we have yet to see any of these fighters really show off what they are capable of outside of the debut trailer.
Now Koei Tecmo has released the first four videos in a series of character introduction videos with these first four introducing Sophie from Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey, Wang Yuanji from Dynasty Warriors, Ouka from Toukiden, and Kasumi from Dead or Alive. You can check out all of the videos below and keep an eye out for the game itself when it is released on the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita in Japan on March 2nd.
About a month and a half ago Compile Heart announced that they were working with Shade to create a new third-person shooter for the PS Vita called Gun Gun Pixies and now the game has been given its opening movie a few months ahead of the planned release.
For those who didn’t read up on the details of the game, Gun Gun Pixies places players in the shoes of a tiny alien girl who invades a girl’s dormitory on Earth in an effort to save their planet by learning how human girls interact in an effort to learn how to solve their own lack of communication that has plunged their home planet into troubled times.
We’ve learned previously that in Four Goddesses Online: Cyber Dimension Neptune, the digital game that all of the characters are playing will feature their goddess forms in the game as NPC characters. Now Compile Heart has released a new trailer for the action RPG that shows just how these NPCs will react, and it even appears that they are now playable in some form.
You can check out the video below to see Purple Heart, Green Heart, Black Heart, and White Heart in action and keep an eye out for the game when it is released in Japan for the PlayStation 4 on February 9th.
Osomatsu is the eldest sextuplet in the Matsuno family. His younger brothers Karamatsu, Choromatsu, Ichimatsu, Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu, all of whom are adults, live at home with their parents as NEETs. All six of them have a crush on Totoko, who is aspiring to become a mega-famous fish idol but continually fails to gain any positive attention from anyone other than the Matsunos. Iyami is a con artist who randomly switches from being helpful to antagonistic towards the brothers, and is often helped by oden chef Chibita. Dekapan is a scientific genius who keeps his incredible concoctions in his pants, and is often seen with Dayon, a person who is simply bizarre. Each of these characters are capable of demonstrating the positive aspects of humanity, but they usually just try to annoy each other and/or kill each other as violently as possible.
Story
The first thing to do before watching this series is to throw your perception of reality out the window for the duration of your viewing session. You will need to be prepared to ignore common sense, the laws of physics and human decency for about 10 hours. If you can do that, you may find yourself having an excellent time watching this wonderfully bizarre comedy. On many occasions, one or more of the brothers will come up with some ludicrous plan that should never be put into action, or say something utterly ridiculous that really needs to be questioned. Then, one of them will be the voice of reason. This supposedly ‘normal’ person is annoyingly common in anime series, and exists mostly to say ‘no’ to everyone else and tell them that they are crazy. Having someone play this role in Mr. Osomatsu is surprisingly effective, however, and somewhat necessary in this particular case. Some of the ideas that the brothers have really do defy logic and reason, yet much of the humour in this series comes from witnessing them following through with their dangerous plans. That is assuming, however, that we are told of their plans beforehand. There are times when something insane just starts happening for no apparent reason, and can be entertaining to see just how messed up situations can become in the shortest possible amount of time.
Some problematic situations can last for a few minutes before being resolved. This show does not let a joke go and move onto the next one as soon as the first joke has achieved its intended purpose. Instead, some jokes are repeated in increasingly ridiculous ways in an attempt to see how far the writers can take a joke while still being funny, and it works every time. These writers commit to a joke once they begin telling it like few others do.
Despite them all having more or less the same appearance, the Matsuno brothers all have different characteristics. Osomatsu gambles his or his brothers’ money away. Karamatsu acts cool and pretends to be a ‘ladies’ man’. Choromatsu tends to be the butt of many jokes, which is not an actual human characteristic. Ichimatsu always looks disinterested and is shy around humans, resulting in him making friends with cats. Jyushimatsu is hyper-energetic and obsessed with baseball, yet he has no idea how baseball works. Todomatsu is the most normal of the Matsuno brothers; he is shown to have a job and be able to talk to women, unlike each of his brothers. Jyushimatsu is the most consistently hilarious of the six, despite not being relatable.
Odd situations occasionally just happen to the brothers for no real reason, but Jyushimatsu is one of the most active characters in the entire show. Despite his appearance, he is capable of having emotions and developing relationships with other people. Those occasions are few and far between, but they still happen. He is extremely unpredictable and random, and that characteristic works well in this series. One would probably not predict, for example, that he would pull down his pants and shove his behind in his interviewer’s face at a job interview, nor that he would pick up one of his brothers, throw him in the air and ride him like a surfboard. As a result of all his hyper-energetic randomness, the episode devoted entirely to him immediately becomes one of the highlights of the series. Every Matsuno gets a moment in the spotlight, and they never cease causing and getting into as much trouble as they possibly can.
One of the impressive things about this series is that the minor characters can become the star of an episode and sideline the Matsunos without being boring. For example, Chibita becomes a compelling protagonist in one story. In it, he waters a plant that seems out of place, only to be greeted later by the Flower Fairy who reciprocates Chibita’s kindness. That such a one-note character who ends every sentence with ‘you idjit’ (‘idiot’) can be a part of a sweet story of fantastical romance without completely ruining it demonstrates the potential that this show has. Even Iyami can be entertaining when thrown into the spotlight, although his antagonistic nature renders him as little more than an occasionally effective gag. Dekapan and Dayon are without a doubt the most hilarious minor characters. Dayon’s mostly incomprehensible behaviour and tendency to only say his own name is inexplicably entertaining. The only character who is genuinely annoying is Totoko, mostly due to her constant physical abuse of the Matsuno brothers. Fujio Akatsuka does not seem to know how to write female characters properly, and the writers of this adaptation did not seem to have any interest in writing female characters properly either. The only female characters that are not entirely annoying are the ‘Girlymatsus’, the gender-flipped versions of the Matsuno brothers. They tend to be petty, focused on gaining the attention of boys and are generally mean to each other, but they at least more entertaining than Totoko. There are some average minor characters and some hilarious ones, but they all contribute to a crazy viewing experience.
Visuals
The animation is solid throughout the series. One episode mostly recycles clips from previous episodes, but aside from that and the otherwise minimal use of flashbacks, it rarely suffers from a drop in quality. The artwork is where this adaptation really succeeds at standing out. The Matsuno brothers are distinct enough in appearance that it is possible to identify each of them visually, and the minor characters are all unique. The faces that many characters make are some of the best elements of the visuals. Characters will often make a menacing face towards another, and at other times will look pleadingly at a person who just does not care. Some of these faces can be truly hideous, but it can also be hilarious. There is a significant amount of slapstick comedy, and watching characters spontaneously combust or bash their heads into a something is more funny than it is horrific. Characters can often be seen bleeding from their heads, and they die from anything ranging from oxygen deprivation to nothing whatsoever. There is a lot of male nudity, although it is censored. There are also certain episodes that feature bishounen versions of the Matsunos, which typically play out like a bizarre reverse harem anime.
Audio
The music is effective, but the most memorable aspect of the music is the opening and ending songs. They are quite catchy, and the accompanying visuals are cool too. Unfortunately, presumably due to licensing issues, they are not subtitled, nor are textless versions included as extras. The voice acting is excellent throughout, and this is no surprise given that some of the biggest names in Japanese voice acting are present.
Overall
Mr. Osomatsu is brilliant in an insane kind of way. If you had one or more brothers growing up or went to a co-educational school, you can probably recognise some of the characteristics and behaviour that the Matsunos demonstrate. If not, this series might function as a good advertisement for all-girls schools; boys like this should be avoided at all costs in the real world. Its sheer ridiculousness and constant barrage of jokes, as well as the slapstick violence that sometimes even results in reversible death, combine to make it stand out as one of the funniest anime productions ever.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
NIS America has announced that they will no longer be able to release the paired games Touhou Genso Wanderer and Touhou Double Focus on their previously planned dates of February 7th in North America and February 10th in Europe. The company has announced that these games will now be releasing on March 21st in North America and March 24th in Europe.
At the time of the announcement the company did not state why this delay occurred but the games will still be available in the same form as before, with the retail PlayStation 4 versions including both games on separate discs in North America (Touhou Double Focus will be digital only in Europe) and the PS Vita versions being available digitally as separate purchases.
Koei Tecmo has announced that they are aiming to have Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey released physically and digitally for the PlayStation 4, digitally on the PS Vita, and on PC through Steam on March 7th in North America and on March 10th in Europe.
To go along with this news the company also released a batch of new screenshots showing off various elements that will return in Atelier Firis as well as some new features such as how outfits will actually play a bit of a role this time around. You see, in-between settlements there are a plethora of different environments to discover, each with their own particular weather conditions that affect travel. Selecting the appropriate attire for each situation will grant Firis benefits and allow her to easily traverse these terrains.
The Snow Bright costume reduces the consumption of Life Points in icy cold conditions, while the Zealous Explorer gear aids travel through blistering heat. Outfits can have countless other effects such as accelerating movement speed, enhancing synthesis abilities or increasing the likelihood of finding high quality materials.
In what may come as a surprising announcement, Arc System Works has revealed that not only is a new Double Dragon game in the works but that it will be released in one month. The company announced that Double Dragon IV will be released digitally on the Japanese PlayStation Store and on Steam on January 30th and 31st respectively.
The PlayStation 4 and PC release has been given English subtitles for now but details about the next leg in Billy and Jimmy Lee are quite scarce. Double Dragon IV will apparently take place immediately after the events of the second game and will be a 2D side-scrolling beat’em up with two player co-op and you can check out the teaser trailer below.
Telltale Games was a well-known developer long before they stepped into the spotlight with their The Walking Dead series, but when the first season was released and fans followed the story of Lee and Clementine they were instantly hooked. Combining the fascination of player choice possibly mattering and a world that everyone was already invested in thanks to the hit television show, the series saw great success and even a second season following Clementine a year later.
Now three years have passed and Telltale Games has returned with a two-part debut to the third season of their story, this time called The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. Does this double entry to kick off the series do a successful job bringing fans back into the world of the undead? Let’s find out.
Story
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier begins as something a bit different as rather than following the story of Clementine directly, players are now primarily shown the story through the eyes of the brand new character, Javier Garcia. During the initial start of the game we see this former professional baseball player who has fallen from grace after gambling issues force his departure from the league return home only to find that his father has already passed away from an illness.
As one would expect, this death comes at the same time the zombie outbreak has just started kicking into gear and the dead father rises once again to the dismay and mauling of some of the family members. With Javier tasked with driving his brother’s second wife, two children, as well as another family member to the hospital the story jumps to a few years later where it is just Javier, his brother’s wife Kate, and her two stepchildren alone in a now renovated van that doubles as a shelter for the wayward family.
Outside of Javier and his thrown together group players will see that Clementine plays a fairly different role this time around. Since many players likely didn’t pick up the first two seasons again on the latest generation of consoles, Telltale Games offers players a chance to either start the game from scratch with a default Clementine as well as craft a Clementine based on their previous choices through a short questionnaire. This allows players to mold Clementine a bit by selecting various options that Lee would have made in the first season and she would have made in the second. This option also gives players some finality to certain aspects of the second season’s ending as flashbacks are the only time we actually get to play as Clementine so far in these two episodes. These flashbacks show us the results of Clementine’s traveling choice in what ultimately becomes a heart-wrenching event to longtime fans.
After coming into contact with a dangerous group and separating from his family, Javier finds himself saved by Clementine who initially sees him as a threat and then a source of a potential vehicle once he reunites with the rest of his family. As one would expect, things don’t go very smoothly for Clementine and Javier as not only does a shocking loss taking place among the group but we encounter the people who call themselves the New Frontier.
With poignant moments scattered throughout, players must keep on the move as they meet with another group who join them only to find themselves in increasingly dangerous situations that push even the best of the characters with them to their limits. With the two episodes serving as something of a re-introduction for longtime fans and possible starting point for those who have never played before, the two parts of Ties That Bind help bring most of the big players together quite quickly in an effort to help move things along in the future and through flashbacks and current interactions we are given some history with Javier and the rest of the family to help establish him as something more than a fresh face.
Gameplay
Although players are placed in the shoes of a new character this time around, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier plays in a similar fashion as past games in the series. There are moments that the player can explore the environment and examine various objects and talk to the other characters around them, fight against zombies or other people in quick time events, and of course make important seeming dialogue decisions.
Whether choices matter yet has yet to really been shown off as playing through the entry twice saw the same result more or less unfold with the story leaving off at the same cliffhanger. It is worth noting that the rare appearance of a dialogue choice description not matching what ends up actually being said does happen during the beginning of the second episode, turning what players might have ended up thinking would be a simple way to stand up for someone into revealing another character’s unspoken intentions that may end up playing a bigger role in the future.
Visuals & Audio
It is clear that Telltale Games made the right decision to give up supporting the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. While there are still entries being developed for smart phones, the company’s ability to focus most of their efforts into the latest generation of consoles is quite evident here. Not only did I experience none of the performance issues that are regularly found in past entries, but both episodes in this release have been given a much better presentation than what was previously on offer.
The art style still mimics the comic book nature that fans are familiar with but with smoother transitions and better action sequences. The character designs are presented in a better manner as well, though I did notice that more than a few zombies appeared to have the same designs repeated throughout both episodes. That being said players will be able to experience some life before the undead apocalypse and catching a glimpse of certain characters and objects before and after the outbreak creates a rather interesting feeling of lost innocence in many of the character’s cases.
The voice work for the returning Clementine is handled incredibly well as she comes across as one would expect, cautious and untrusting of the new group, while the new characters are handled impressively enough with the familiar face from the comics also appearing to look, and sound, like many would guess.
Overall
Telltale Games made the wise decision to kick off the third season of their version of The Walking Dead with a double episode. Not only would players have been left with an unsatisfactory cliffhanger from the first episode, but the one that they are left on after Ties that Bind Part II wraps up is not only shocking but will leave players questioning some of their actions so far. While Javier may not have the same personal connection with fans that Clementine does, their interactions with one another and Clementine’s nature with the rest of the cast allows us to quickly warm up to the new faces. Whether they will manage to stay alive through all of this is yet to be seen but The Walking Dead: A New Frontier safely establishes itself as a quick moving dramatic storyline that may be a bit too familiar at times but will leave fans eager to see what will happen next.
We are nearing the end of 2016, which has seen many fantastic releases from Hanabee Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand. In alphabetical order only, these are the top five best releases from Hanabee this year.
Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei!. This is a surprisingly sweet magical girl series, one that comes with one of Sentai Filmworks’ most well-cast and effective English dubs to date. It is also a good example of how well spin-offs of an existing series can turn out. The full review of the first season can be read here.
Lazer Team Director’s Cut. It may feature somewhat poorly rendered CG aliens, but it is a hilarious feature film starring many of Rooster Teeth’s most prominent personalities. The full review of this release can be read here.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. There are plenty of comedic anime series out there, perhaps too many. However, while this one has a silly premise, it is regarded by some to be one of the funniest anime series of all time.
Red vs. Blue Season 14. The problem with some anthologies is that there is too much of a disconnect between each story they present. Rooster Teeth, with excellent writing efforts from Miles Luna and many other skilled writers, created a hilarious and engaging series of short stories that are great regardless of whether or not they are strictly canon. The full review of this release can be read here. The SteelBook release of the Chorus Trilogy, made up of seasons 11-13, is also excellent.
RWBY Volumes 1-3 Beacon Collection SteelBook. This is an extremely well animated series featuring an amazing cast of characters, a fantastic story and detailed world-building. The full review of this release can be read here.
Interested in any of these releases? They can be purchased from Hanabee’s online store, which can be found here. All releases of Rooster Teeth titles are region free.
Thank you for a great year of high quality releases, Hanabee!
It is nearly the end of 2016, a year that saw many excellent releases from Madman Entertainment. Although it was difficult narrowing the list down from over 100 animated releases to just five, these are the top five releases from Madman this year. They are presented in alphabetical order.
Adventure Time: Stakes!. Usually known for its hilarious absurdity, this Adventure Time mini-series focuses on Marceline. It is touching and meaningful, and it presents a brilliant insight into Marceline’s past. The full review of this release can be read here.
Sailor Moon Part Two. This series is beloved by many anime fans around the world, and for good reason. It presents a story and an assortment of characters with a level of depth rarely seen in modern anime. It is absolutely beautiful, and by far the best magical girl series ever created. The full review of this release can be read here.
Steven Universe Season One. This series is regarded as a hidden gem among western animated series. The titular protagonist is a young boy who wants to be helpful and participate in missions with the Crystal Gems. He is full of energy, and is surrounded by some of the most wonderful people in the world. To name just one of them, his friend Connie is a beautiful character who is lonely and just wants to have fun. This is a highly engaging series that is consistently a joy to watch. The full review of this release can be read here.
Your Lie in April Part 1. There aren’t too many romantic drama series featuring musicians, and this one excels at its portrayal of youth and the feelings that come with being a musician. This is no ordinary love story. The full review of this release can be read here.
Yurikuma Arashi. Undoubtedly the most obscure series in this list in terms of its status in popular culture, it turns out to be a powerful portrayal of homosexuality and the way it is treated in society. It features an incredible tale of love and loss rich with symbolism and imagery that help make this one of the most outstanding series of all time. The full review of this release can be read here.
All of these releases are available for purchase from Madman’s online store, which can be found here. The next releases of Sailor Moon and Steven Universe are scheduled for the first half of February 2017.
Outside of Javier and his thrown together group players will see that Clementine plays a fairly different role this time around. Since many players likely didn’t pick up the first two seasons again on the latest generation of consoles, Telltale Games offers players a chance to either start the game from scratch with a default Clementine as well as craft a Clementine based on their previous choices through a short questionnaire. This allows players to mold Clementine a bit by selecting various options that Lee would have made in the first season and she would have made in the second. This option also gives players some finality to certain aspects of the second season’s ending as flashbacks are the only time we actually get to play as Clementine so far in these two episodes. These flashbacks show us the results of Clementine’s traveling choice in what ultimately becomes a heart-wrenching event to longtime fans.
With poignant moments scattered throughout, players must keep on the move as they meet with another group who join them only to find themselves in increasingly dangerous situations that push even the best of the characters with them to their limits. With the two episodes serving as something of a re-introduction for longtime fans and possible starting point for those who have never played before, the two parts of Ties That Bind help bring most of the big players together quite quickly in an effort to help move things along in the future and through flashbacks and current interactions we are given some history with Javier and the rest of the family to help establish him as something more than a fresh face.
Whether choices matter yet has yet to really been shown off as playing through the entry twice saw the same result more or less unfold with the story leaving off at the same cliffhanger. It is worth noting that the rare appearance of a dialogue choice description not matching what ends up actually being said does happen during the beginning of the second episode, turning what players might have ended up thinking would be a simple way to stand up for someone into revealing another character’s unspoken intentions that may end up playing a bigger role in the future.
The art style still mimics the comic book nature that fans are familiar with but with smoother transitions and better action sequences. The character designs are presented in a better manner as well, though I did notice that more than a few zombies appeared to have the same designs repeated throughout both episodes. That being said players will be able to experience some life before the undead apocalypse and catching a glimpse of certain characters and objects before and after the outbreak creates a rather interesting feeling of lost innocence in many of the character’s cases.
