North American anime licensor and distributor Right Stuf, inc. has just revealed that it will be exclusively distributing products from Ponycan USA, the recently-formed sub-division of Japanese anime producer and distributor Pony Canyon, inc. Ponycan USA will be releasing “high end, collector-grade” DVDs, Blu-rays and merchandise in the USA and Canada.
Exclusive sets of new and old titles will be released monthly beginning April 10, 2015, with Yuki Yuna is a Hero and Denki-Gai being the first titles to be released. Exact details about the upcoming releases will be made available in the future.
Japanese producers will be supervising all US releases to ensure the highest quality possible. Special promotional bonuses will also be offered to anime fans in the US.
For those unfamiliar with Pony Canyon, they have been involved in the production of popular anime titles including Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, K-On! and Free!, as well as many other series.
As if this week wasn’t already a huge one for Disney and Marvel Studios with the premiere of Agent Carter and the first full teaser trailer for the upcoming Ant-Man flick, Netflix have finally announced when we will be able to watch their upcoming Daredevil series. You won’t have to wait very long either as the 13-episode season will be made available to viewers through the Netflix streaming service on April 10th, 2015 in all regions that Netflix is available in. That means you will be able to watch the entire season before Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters.
Now I know that most of you down under are thinking “but how will we watch it! We don’t have Netflix down here!” Well I’ve got some extra good news for you. The world renowned video streaming service is debuting here in Australia this year and if online reports are to be believed it will be towards the end of March, giving you plenty of time to get used to it before Daredevil’s premiere.
Daredevil stars Charlie Cox (Boardwalk Empire) as Matt Murdoch who blinded since a child fights injustice as a lawyer in the seedy Hell’s Kitchen, New York. At night though, Matt Murdoch uses his heightened senses and fights crime as the Man With no Fear, the Daredevil. Daredevil is set to be the first of four inter-connected Marvel Netflix series that will culminate in a crossover series “The Defenders” at a later date.
Not only do we now have a release date for Daredevil, but Netflix have also released the official poster for the series that you can check out below. Are you looking forward to the new iteration of Daredevil, or has the Ben Affleck series still left a bitter taste in your mouth? Let us know in the comments below and remember to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Marvel news as it becomes available.
Koei Tecmo has announced the the upcoming remake Bladestorm: Nightmare is to receive a slight delay. The title was originally supposed to have a March 03/06 release date (for North American and Europe, respectively), but will now be release March 17/20.
This came with a few other announcements for the strategy game. There will be a character edit mode, allowing players to customize characters to their design.
Taking advantage of the greater processing power of the next-gen systems, the battle system has been upgraded. Players will now be able to control four army units in real-time. During the game players can switch to command any single unit, combine them into a 200 man strong unit, or issue individual orders.
Additionally, the new Nightmare mode was given some further description. Rather than being based on the historical Hundred Years War, this new mode is a fantasy setting. Players will arrive in Gascony able to control monsters to find that England and France are being invaded by demonic armies.
Bladestorm: Nightmare will be released on the Xbox One and the Playstation 4, hopefully without any further delays.
Chris Ayres will be directing the newly-produced English dub, which will be released on February 3, 2015. Sentai Filmworks released the series on subtitled-only DVD and Blu-ray on June 10, 2014, and that release can still be purchased for those who are only interested in the Japanese audio.
Turtle Rock Studios and 2k Games announced their highly anticipated competitive/co-operative shooter Evolvehas gone gold. The game has passed certification and has now been sent to factories to be pressed, packaged, and shipped to retailers in time for the February 10th, 2015 release date. In the mean time, the intro cinematic has been released on YouTube and an Open Beta kicks off next week.
Turtle Rock Studios also announced the results of their company fundraiser for Child’s Play. Male team members pledged to not shave and female team members agreed to not cut their hair until Evolve passed certification. For every inch grown by the team, they planned on making a donation of $50. The result was 227.5 inches or $11,375 raised to help outfit children’s hospitals around the world with toys, books, and games. The hair isn’t going to waste either! The charity Locks of Love will be using some of the cut hair to create wigs for children with medical conditions.
If you own an Xbox One and are into first person shooters then I dare say that you have had Halo 5: Guardians on your radar for quite some time. The latest chapter in Master Chief’s grand saga is being brought to us in full later this year but we all know that Halo is truly about the multiplayer experience, so as a little end of 2014-start of 2015 present Microsoft and 343 Industries have given us a little taste in what’s to come with the epic Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta.
While the beta is still ongoing, and with more content being added for its last week, we thought we would tell you some of the things we experienced during my many (more than I’d like to admit) playthrough of the beta. Now be forewarned, I am not a Halo expert so I don’t really know all of the subtle nuances and changes that the game has gone through since Halo 4, but I can say right here and right now that I have had a blast.
First thing’s first: from a technical standpoint Halo 5 is shaping up to be a masterpiece, but it isn’t quite there yet. The locales and lighting are highlights of the visuals but they still don’t match up to some of the recently released hardware-pushing games. At present, the game is running at 720p (although who knows if this will change by the time the full game drops later this year) and is a silky smooth 60fps. While nobody in the WORLD would have expected anything less from a competitive shooter like Halo, it is still a dream to play. It is clear that 343 are opting to get the gameplay down pat first before working on the look of the game which I’m sure many of you are thrilled to hear.
One thing that I immediately noticed about Halo 5 was that it now features an “aim down the barrel” function that is present in almost every other FPS ever. I was (and admittedly) still am a little cautious as to this new feature; it increases your accuracy and lowers bullet spread but at the cost of your peripheral vision meaning it is easy to be flanked while lining up that perfect shot. I’m not opposed to the concept in other FPS titles and often welcome it, but it just feels so foreign in a Halo game. To me Halo has always been a fast paced and frantic “shoot from the hip” kind of game, so I am legitimately interested to see how the competitive Halo players out there will adapt to this new system.
While not an experienced Halo player, I did feel like the movement was fined tuned from previous games, being more responsive and quicker than ever before. The slicker movement style of the game made it a lot easier to get into and felt less clunky all around.
While fine tuning elements is one thing, it is important to note the things that have been taken AWAY from the franchise. Armor abilities and load-outs have been done away with, meaning every single Spartan in the arena starts off on equal footing (well, aside from vast differences in skill level). I’m not sure how I feel about this change; armor abilities could offer some really interesting changes in gameplay and allow you to specialise yourself into a certain role on a team. Although I admit that I have never been a big lover of load-outs in competitive multiplayer games so I am happy to see them gone.
Unlike most beta tests, Microsoft and 343 have been running the Guardians multiplayer beta in a semi-episodic format. Running for three weeks, each week brings with it new content like game modes, maps and other tid bits for you to try out. Many of these are long-time favourites like Team Slayer mode from the beta’s first week. Although it is the week 2 game mode; Breakout that I have really been loving.
Featuring 4v4 team combat on a sparsely populated map, Breakout is all about the competition. Each player only has one life each, and with no radar or objectives to complete it is a game that ends with the destruction of the opposition team. Breakout games are fast-paced, frantinc and feel like a true test of skill. I’m sure we will be seeing a lot more of Breakout after the game launches (I know I’ll be playing it).
It is hard to be 100% impartial when it comes to talking about Halo because quite frankly I’ve never been all that into the franchise. I have enjoyed a few games with friends at college here and there but it was never enough to hold my attention for very long. Halo 5 however looks like it is shaping up to be an amazing game and one that I might actually go out of my way to purchase it when it launches later this year.
Retro indie adventure developer/publisher Wadjet Eye Games (Blackwell Epiphany) announced their first game of 2015 today. Technobabylon is a cyberpunk thriller developed in partnership with Techocrat. The game will continue with Wadjet Eye’s mission of delivering retro-styled point and click adventure games.
Technobabylon takes place in a dystopian future, where the big brother AI named central is always watching. Central runs the city and wields the CEL Police Force as an extension of its power. The populace are kept in line through a severe addiction of Trance, a drug that has generally replaced all human interaction. Dr. Charlie Regis is one of three playable characters in Technobabylon. He is a geneticist and a CEL Case Specialist. A new trailer introduces Dr. Regis to the world.
Technobabylon started out as three of eight freeware episodes from James Dearden. Wadjet Eye Games and Technocrat are working together to bring turn the game into a full blown commercial release for Spring 2015. The game will be released for Linux, Mac, and Windows.
AnimeLab has just announced that they will be simulcasting the Assassination Classroom anime in Australia. The announcement is vague and does not state exactly when the first episode will premiere or which distributor has the rights to this series, but given that Madman is distributing the original manga version, it is likely that Madman has the rights to stream this series. Maria the Virgin Witch, Yurikuma Arashi, The Rolling Girls, Absolute Duo and Death Parade will also be available on AnimeLab soon however details are also vague with these announcements.
Volume one of the Assassination Classroom manga will be released in Australia on January 10, 2015. Volume two will be released on April 10, 2015.
Overview While some fans of heavy metal bands might believe that their favorite artists may always act like they do on stage, that usually isn’t the case. Such is the case with Detroit Metal City, an OVA series that debuted in Japan back in 2008 and was adapted from a ten volume manga of the same name. Featuring vulgar comedy and a crazy style, Sentai Filmworks recently released Detroit Metal City on Blu-ray is this strange and explicit anime worth purchasing?
Story Soichi Negishi grew up on a farm in the countryside with loving parents and a brother who looked up to him. After moving to Tokyo to attend college and make friends, everything seemed to be going great for Negishi who had a knack for soft music and other types of fluff that even the simplest person would find mundane. So how does this admittedly dull as dishwater guy end up in a world full of mosh pits, drugs, and music filled with vulgar and cruel lyrics?
Well that isn’t explained much, other than the fact that Negishi, who only wanted to sing Swedish pop music, ended up falling in with a manager that turned his talents towards becoming, Johannes Krauser II, the lead guitarist and vocalist in DMC, a violent death metal band that is one of the most popular indie bands in Japan. Thanks to Negishi’s portrayal of Krauser and the band’s brutal lyrics about murder, rape, incest, death and everything in-between, Detroit Metal City is something of a one-note dark comedy that is admittedly hilarious.
Thanks to the way that Negishi is so dull in his natural state and insane while portraying Krauser we see a tale of two worlds and personalities. Everyone in his normal life thinks that Negishi is such the nicest boy who couldn’t hurt a fly while as Krauser he bites the heads off of bats and screams about murdering his family. In fact the best parts of Detroit Metal City are when his professional life invades his normal one, such as his oft-drunken manager invading his room with two metal heads in order to “Metal Up” his life only to begin abusing his elderly neighbor and reverting him back to his dangerous teenage days.
Considering there is no real storyline to Detroit Metal City other than Negishi struggling to avoid his secret life as Krauser and DMC from being exposed to his family back home and those around him, it is good that the entirety of this release is contained in thirteen minute episodes that are split into two separate halves. This contains the sadistic craziness that oozes out of every story that Detroit Metal City has to tell to a manageable level as every single episode will feature something crazy and twisted happening, whether it is Krauser violating Tokyo Tower, stepping on and abusing the “Pig” that is with the band, assaulting and violating a soft-rock artist on TV and worse.
There is a dark nature to the comedy in Detroit Metal City and if it wasn’t for the absolutely absurd nature of the show and the way that everything is presented, almost all of the jokes could be considered extremely offensive and cruel. That being said, one cannot help but laugh at the train wreck that every event ends up becoming because the series doesn’t tone anything down, it only ramps it up. It is also a decidedly vulgar series, if that wasn’t already quite apparent, as DMC’s female manager constantly talks about how “wet” she is getting from the band’s performances and the BDSM treatment of a certain character, and the general actions and lyrics of DMC.
Another aspect that makes this mean-spirited series entertaining is the way that it lampoons the nature of the music industry. As DMC encounters other bands of different genres we see just how ridiculous most subcultures are, especially in the death metal circles. All the while we have Negishi dealing with the fact that his persona as Krauser bleeds into his life as Negichi, causing this mild-mannered boy to scream obscenities at those around him or perform outrageous acts and also struggling with how terribly received his attempts at pop music are while his DMC fans cause riots with how excited they get at his events.
Visuals One can say that the way that everything is drawn in Detroit Metal City is fitting, simply because of how ugly most of the character designs are and how ridiculous looking some of the animations are. The designs of Krauser’s outfit and the few performances by DMC that actually are shown in full show that the studio has a quite a bit of talent on their hands, but instead most of the series is as rough looking as the jokes are.
A range of art styles are used here, as most of the series features a different looking animation style than the aforementioned performances and this causes most of the characters to look absolutely ridiculous with bland backgrounds and simplistic looking scenes. Perhaps this was intentional thanks to the way that many of the visual gags are handled and the way that the aspect ratio of the series shifts into various aspect sizes similar to a manga panel.
Audio Sentai Filmworks has released Detroit Metal City with only the original Japanese voice track, which is something of a shame as it would have been interesting to hear how ridiculous most of the dialogue sounds in English. That being said, the actual voice work is fitting but decidedly vulgar as swear words are laced in with standard dialogue and the band’s manager loves dropping F bombs.
That doesn’t even touch upon the lyrics that make up most of DMCs songs throughout the series. The lyrics are as ugly and terrible as you can imagine in DMCs music while the similarly terrible soft pop that Negichi sings in his of time is just as cringe-worthy. This whole aspect is represented with the opening and ending themes of the series, with the opening being a brutal metal song “Satsugai” by DMC and Krauser while the ending theme is a fluffy pop song “Amai Koibito” sung by normal Negishi.
Extras With this Blu-ray release of Detroit Metal City Sentai Filmworks has only provided a clean version of the opening animation and trailers for other releases from the company.
Overall Detroit Metal City is a series that lives and dies on whether or not you will be able to laugh at the absurdly offensive material that plays out every episode. Thankfully, with how it is presented, it is hard not to laugh at how ridiculously crude and outrageous the entire series is. It also helps that there is some reason to the madness that is Detroit Metal City as the series takes swings at numerous music genres all while Negishi despises his current lifestyle but isn’t afraid to embrace it when he must. Those who can find Detroit Metal City’s cruel brand of dark humor will find a funny series that holds nothing back but those who don’t should run.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
In a few months Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance will be released in Japan by Nippon Ichi Software and today the company released the opening movie for the game and you can check it out below. While the video’s style will be familiar to most longtime Disgaea fans, the music this time around feels different from what usually accompanies the game’s openings and also gives us a look at why Killia is so eager to take down Void Dark.
Currently Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance is set to be released in Japan on March 26th for the PlayStation 4 and NIS America has already stated that they will be bringing the title to North America and Europe later in 2015.
Turtle Rock Studios and 
