Madman Entertainment’s anime releases of May 20, 2015 are now available. Here is the full list of those releases, which features continuations of ongoing series, releases of new series and a film:
One Week Friends Series Collection (English-subtitled edition) – DVD
Patlabor: The Mobile Police OVA Series 2 – The New Files – DVD
Rozen Maiden: Zuruckspulen Collection – DVD
Unbreakable Machine-Doll Series Collection – DVD and Blu-ray
If you are interested in buying any of these releases and want to find out more about them, you make like to read reviews of 009 Re:Cyborghere, Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobodyhere, Fairy Tail Part 1 here, Patlabor: The Mobile Police OVA Series 1here and Unbreakable Machine Dollhere.
Creating farms just got farmier. While us in the west already have Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley thanks in part to Natsume, Nintendo of Australia are finally bringing it to the region for the 3DS, and have announced a release date of June 20th.
Yes folks (or mates), you can craft your own world and adjust your landscape in this entry, with the standard actions of sowing seeds, picking flowers, or fishing also included to create another well-rounded experience. Its good to see Aussies get some love on their handhelds and Nintendo publishing the latest Harvest Moon seems to indicate how much stock Natsume still has on their hands.
Nintendo is currently developing its replacement for the loved loyalty program Club Nintendo but before everyone’s Stars expire on September 30th, Nintendo Australia would like to offer some additional items to its most devoted fan base. Pictured below are several new items coming to the shop in the future including some new items never before available in the Club Nintendo AU store including an adorable Captain Toad Figurine Lamp, Mario themed coasters and Mario Kart trophies!!!
Even more items are on their way though including some very popular old favorites in the Luigi’s Mansion 2 diorama figure and The Legend of Zelda Carry Case as well as some new items including what I am willing to bet will be a very valuable Club Nintendo farewell coin.
Australian Nintendo fans remember your stars expire on September 30th but you might want to save them up as I am willing to bet a lot of these items will be a bit hard on the old Star wallet. Remember, no new Nintendo products will come with the Club Nintendo code so old games are your only way of obtaining these now fairly valuable Stars. If anyone is super keen to get a hold of these items today, check eBay America where most of these items were already released.
It has been over a year since indie dev The Behemoth — developers behind games like Castle Crashers and Battleblock Theater — first revealed their upcoming game, tentatively titled Game 4, at PAX East 2014. Since then, the game has been playable at a few conventions and we have even seen the opening cinematic for the untitled game.
Today, The Behemoth released a video featuring the first twenty minutes of gameplay from Game 4, introduced by art director/designer Dan Paladin:
We still have no clue when Game 4 will be released, what it will be called, or on what platforms it will be released. If one goes by The Behemoth’s last two games, it will most likely be a timed-exclusive on Xbox One followed by later releases to PC and PlayStation 4. But hey, maybe The Behemoth will launch on all platforms at once this go-around. With Game 4 being a turn-based strategy, it deserves a PC release sooner rather than later. With all that said, I look forward to playing this weird and funny game as soon as I can.
Anime Consortium Japan is getting the jump on streaming licenses this summer anime season by announcing that they will be streaming the anime adaptation of God Eateron Daisuki.net starting on Sunday July 5th.
Based off of the video game series from Bandai Namco and animated by ufotable, God Eater tells the story of a world where in the early 2050s unknown life forms called “Oracle Cells” began appearing to consume all life on earth. These creatures, eventually called aragami, were immune to all forms of conventional weaponry until living weapons created from Oracle cells, called God Arcs, were created and wielded by the God Eaters in an attempt to save the world.
The documentary on the early days of video gaming, World 1-1, launched today on Steam. The film covers the explosive growth that shook the entertainment industry and the near death of the video game industry during that time. Major figures in the industry like Nolan Bushnell, co-founder of Atari, and David Crane, co-founder of Activision, appear in the film.
World 1-1 released in theatres last year, has been screened at video game related events, and has been available through some digital services. Now, viewers will be able to stream the film from the comfort of their own home on Steam. Normally the film is for $7.99 USD, but Devolver Digital Films is celebrating the documentary’s launch by knocking the price off by 33% for the next two days.
Bethesda released a new teaser trailer for the Doomreboot today. The game has been popping and and out of the news since 2008, with strings of teaser trailers and announcements at major gaming events. With the news that Bethesda will be running its very first E3 press conference this year, Doom was a likely pick to be front and centre at the show.
Today, Bethesda revealed a new teaser that confirms the first public gameplay footage of the Doom reboot will air during the conference. The teaser trailer itself is only 11 seconds long, with only a few seconds glimpse at a double barreled shotgun and a Revenant monster from the series.
Discotek Media has two anime titles scheduled for release in North America next week. Both of the following titles will be released on May 26, 2015.
First up is the complete collection of Ceres, Celestial Legend on DVD. It will feature episodes 1-24 with dual audio and English subtitles.
Second is the complete series collection of Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact! on DVD. It will feature episodes 1-26 with Japanese audio and English subtitles. The series was originally broadcast in 2009 with the title Shin Mazinger Shougeki (New Mazinger Impact), but the licensor requested that it be retitled ‘Mazinger Edition Z’ for the North American release. Discotek previously released the full 92-episode Mazinger Z TV series across two DVD sets last year.
Koei Tecmo has announced that they will be bringing Nobunaga’s Ambition: Creation to the West under the name Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence. The company is planning on releasing the title in North America on September 1st and in Europe on September 4th where the PlayStation 4 version of the game will be available at retail and the PlayStation 3 and PC versions will be digital only.
Nobunaga’s Ambition just recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and is one of Koei Tecmo’s longest running franchises and when released Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence will feature both English and Japanese audio options. In the title, players have the option of playing as either a historical character or a character of their own creation as they take on the role of a feudal lord in Japan’s Sengoku era fighting to unite the country under a single rule. There are three gameplay aspects to focus on as described the Koei Tecmo:
In ‘Creation’ they are called to build up their clan’s standing, deal with everyday issues like building farms & roads, growing the economy, entering trade agreements with neighboring fiefs etc.
‘Diplomacy’ is a playground for cultivating diplomatic relationships, employing spies, creating alliances, gaining the loyalty of subordinate officers and growing in strength via marriage, oaths of fealty and treaties.
Finally to succeed in ‘War’ players must train troops, level up officers according to the clan’s needs, fortify defenses, strategically position armies and attack (or defend) to further their goals and grow their dominion.
Overview The amount of anime comedies that involve a group of girls or a small gathering of students at a high school mostly doing things in their club room is astounding. The thing is, despite there being so many series that follow this path, many turn out to be very successful. Based off of a ten volume light novel series that ended a few years ago and received numerous spin-offs, Student Council’s Discretion has now made its way to North America courtesy of Sentai Filmworks. So, does this series have what it takes to be considered a success or is it something to simply ignore?
Story Like many schools, at Hekiyo Academy the student council is elected by popular vote with the top four students being chosen for various roles on the council. Hekiyo Academy does try to balance things out a bit by including a “Blue Chip” seat on the council. This seat is given to the student that has the highest grades in the school at the end of the previous year, meaning that anyone has a chance to get into the council even if they are disliked.
Enter Ken Sugisaki, a bit of an odd student who surprised many by becoming the highest scoring student in the school due to the fact that he was previously ranked last as far as grades were concerned. Going from worst to first may earn someone some respect, but the very first thing Sugisaki decides to do is declare his love for all four gorgeous women in the council and promise that he will make them happy members of his harem.
As one would expect, this doesn’t go over well with the girls but since he was chosen there is very little they can do about it and life goes on in the student council. Or at least it would if they could get much of anything done as the council does everything but focus on their work most of the time. In fact they are so disenfranchised by their situation that the majority of the first episode features the cast making self-deprecating jokes about what a mistake it was to turn Student Council’s Discretion into an anime series since the cast just sits around talking most of the time.
You see, Ken Sugisaki loves dating sims and fantasizing about the rest of the cast which regularly makes him the bear the brunt of the rest of the student council’s punishments as they bully him into submission and try to get back to work, though he gets his fair share of jabs in as everyone is fair game due to the council’s odd personalities and situations.
While Sugisaki serves as the Blue Chip vice president, the president is Kurimu Sakurano who is generally an air head with a taste for sweets with a sore spot regarding her diminutive figure and flat chest and childish personality. The actual vice president is the tomboyish Minatsu who has a hidden soft side and deeply cares for her sister Mafuyu, the council’s secretary, who is in love with everything boys love despite being afraid of men in general. Closing out the council is the busty Chizuru who serves as the council’s secretary that often emits a dangerous aura.
The set-up for the council may seem fairly standard and it indeed is but surprisingly Student Council’s Discretion features more character development than you’d expect from a gag series such as this one. Although most of the drama is fairly light, especially in regards to two core characters moving away being quickly dismissed in under an episode, there is some surprising depth to these characters as a number of them have suffered some way in the past.
Despite Sugisaki’s obsession with wanting to create a harem and proclaiming his love to each of the girls rubbing them the wrong way, he always works the hardest out of the council to ensure that everyone has time to enjoy themselves rather than focus on work. As the series progresses we learn bits and pieces about his past, including why he is acting the way he is, as well as signs that the girls may not hate Ken quite as much as it may come off.
Unfortunately most of Sugisaki’s past hardships, despite being hinted at numerous times, is left vague by the time Student Council’s Discretion’s final episode wraps up. While that is a disappointment, there is plenty of enjoyable moments to be had as the comedy found in Student Council’s Discretion is quite funny as the characters jab at one another, especially towards Ken who at one point is forced to write Boys Love material with himself as a central character, and make self-deprecating jokes about the series and light novel publisher, this includes numerous references to other anime series and games scattered throughout the series that are fun to catch, but ultimately the series doesn’t stand out much on its own.
Visuals While it is worth noting that Student Council’s Discretion originally aired back in 2009, even at the time the series was clearly produced with a tight budget and this leads to some rather dated artwork and very few environments, the characters even jokes about how they can’t possibly be shown traveling around Tokyo due to the nature of the show.
This doesn’t mean that everything is bad however, as the character designs are enjoyable to look at despite appearing a bit rough at mid-distance. There are also some rather tame moments of fan-service involving swimsuits that is played for laughs thanks to Sugisaki’s reactions. Considering the numerous references to other anime, manga, and video games Sentai Filmworks has created plenty of translation notes that appear during these references to help out those who may miss some of the more obscure material.
Audio As one might expect with a series full of references like Student Council’s Discretion, Sentai Filmworks has opted to release the series with only the original Japanese voice track. This shouldn’t be an issue with fans of this genre as the voice actors for the characters fit perfectly and have great chemistry when playing off each other for jokes.
The soundtrack is unfortunately as basic as they come with barely any standout themes but the opposite can be said about the opening and ending themes. While the opening theme is the oddly emotional “Treasure,” performed by the core female cast, the ending theme is changed every single episode and is sung by various members of the cast with each theme features different lyrics set to the same animation.
Extras With the release of Student Council’s Discretion, Sentai Filmworks has only included the clean opening animation, only one version of the clean ending theme animation, and trailers for other Sentai Filmworks releases.
Overall Student Council’s Discretion is ultimately a very funny but generally unremarkable series with a likable cast of characters that tries to go the extra mile compared to other gag anime by actually giving the characters some development over the course of the series, as minimal as it may be. With plenty of self-deprecating humor and gag references to other material, this series is definitely one for those looking for a good laugh but aren’t looking for much more than that.
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