Today Sentai Filmworks made a surprising licensing announcement when they revealed that they now have the rights to Student Council’s Discretion, or as it was called when it aired in Japan back in 2009, Seitokai no Ichizon. Sentai Filmworks will be giving the series a home video release as well as a digital release sometime in the future.
At the moment the company has not mentioned whether or not they will be picking up the second season of Seitokai no Ichizon which aired last year, but they did provide us with their own description of the series which you can read below:
At Hekiyo Academy, all but one of the Student Council members are elected via popularity contests, and since teenagers think with hormones more often than intellects, those seats are filled by the attractive derrieres of the school’s most beautiful girls! That makes things extra rough on the one student chosen for academic scores, because besides being the council’s only male member, one of Ken Sugisaki’s main assignments is writing stories informing the student body about the many achievements of their Student Council.
That means manipulating the truth just a bit, and given that Ken’s a besotted fan of dating video games who fantasizes about his fellow council members as his “harem”, things tend to get even more out of hand. And exactly who’s going to be the leading lady is up for debate, as immature Kurimu, tomboyish Minatsu, twisted Chizuru and “boy love” obsessed Mafuyu are all trying to add their own particular spins, even as their jealous rivals in the Journalism Club aim to shoot them down! The lines between facts and fiction disappear and what really happened will probably never be revealed except at the Student Council’s Discretion!
If you happened to like Cherry Tree High Comedy Club then you will be happy to hear that Nyu Media is going to be releasing the sequel, Cherry Tree High I! My! Girls! next week on November 20th with other digital PC markets getting it in the following days. On each of these stores the title will be priced at $3.99.
Cherry Tree High I! My! Girls! is a linear visual novel and continues the story from the first game and you can check out it’s Steam Greenlight page here. It is also interesting to note that the company will be releasing an alternate translation for the first game in the series, saying that due to popular demand, the new localization will use the characters’ original Japanese names, locations, and various other settings to give the game a more authentic Japanese feel.
Overview The Resident Evil franchise has spawned six numbered titles and numerous spin-offs, HD remakes, and movies since it was created back in 1996 and now it has reached Western shores in a manga. Now this isn’t the first time that Resident Evil has been available in print, as seven novels were previously released in English over a decade ago. Set prior to the events of Resident Evil 6 and being the first time the series has been available in manga format, is Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire Volume 1 worth picking up?
Story The most prestigious school in Asia is Marhawa Academy, an isolated school located in an unknown country surrounded by a huge forest where students have no contact with the outside world until graduation. The elite of the elite are taught at this school where not even cell phone reception can reach and when a cloaked stranger leaves in the middle of a stormy night, it seems it is also the location of a new bioterrorist attack.
Doug Wright, a professor teaching biology at a Singapore University, is contacted by an old friend that wants him to come to Marhawa Academy and investigate a strange transformation that one of the female students underwent. Offering extra credit to his nephew Ricky, the two travel to the isolated school only to find that the affected girl has become a zombie and has already killed one of her classmates.
Despite the fact that a zombie outbreak is a serious issue and one that Doug has experienced in the past, he is unable to convince his former girlfriend and headmistress of the school, Mother Gracia, to allow him to contact the B.S.A.A. as it would damage the reputation of the school. Left with only a few tools to work with and forced to stay by the iron grip that Gracia holds the school in, things continue to get worse for Doug and Ricky and it seems like Gracia’s own concern about reputation may be the downfall of the entire school.
Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire Volume 1 can be frustrating at times but it also creates the perfect atmosphere for a zombie based manga such as this. This first volume does a nice job introducing the school as well as the situation that the current characters are forced to deal with. While those familiar with the game series will obviously get the most out of the story, it does work rather well on its own.
What makes this volume frustrating so far is the way that Gracia sees the school as something that she must control at all costs and that there must be no stain to its reputation, even if it means burning evidence, destroying vehicles, threatening those who came to help her, and putting the entire student body at risk as she feeds her god complex.
Despite Gracia’s actions, there are some nice developments that occur throughout this first volume as not only does it seem that Ricky may possess an ability that will help the two combat the zombie infection but Chris Redfield and his team have become aware that Doug has vanished and are slowly trying to track him down in what will hopefully see the group uniting in the next volume.
Artwork Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire is being printed under Viz’s Signature label which means that the manga will be a bit larger than average. While many of the characters are original for this story, the various monsters from Resident Evil such as Lickers, Hunters, and zombie dogs make short appearances and resemble their game counterparts and Chris Redfield is a spitting image of his Resident Evil 6 design.
As for the art itself, Naoki Serazawa’s original character designs are quite fitting for the series, and despite the fact that many of the students all wear the same outfit, there is a decent enough variety here. There is a decent amount of gore found in this volume, though thanks to zombies being so darkly toned it is difficult to distinguish some features, the gore is far lighter than one would expect.
Extra Content As I mentioned earlier the first eight pages of this volume are presented in color, though three of the pages are colored entirely in red in order to present an ominous tone. Other than the initial color pages, the only other piece of extra content in the volume is an “special episode” at the end that focuses on Merah Biji. An original character for this manga, Merah Biji is a member of the B.S.A.A. and although this eight page mini-story doesn’t reveal any actual details about her, it does provide readers a decent amount of fan-service and action as she battles against numerous familiar Resident Evil creatures.
Overall Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire Volume 1 handles the introduction of the zombie virus perfectly, even though the isolated location and Gracia’s god complex are a bit too cliché when combined. With this first volume not only introducing the situation but giving readers a decent amount of action with plenty of moving pieces, fans of the franchise should definitely give it a shot while even newcomers will find the story so far a satisfying zombie manga with plenty to build on in the next few volumes.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Following yesterday’s debut trailer for Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Century, Compile Heart has released another trailer for the game with this one focusing entirely on the CPUs taking on some weak enemies within the game.
The video features Neptune, Plutia, Blanc, and Vert and as it progresses both Blanc and Vert enter their CPU forms while Neptune and Plutia show off paired combo attacks as they team with Nepgear and Noire respectively.
Also shown off in the video is how notifications will now appear when an enemy drops an item upon defeat and how the various gauges will now work in combat. Currently Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Century is set for release on the PS Vita in Japan on December 18th though it does have a very high chance of being released overseas sometime later in 2015.
Yesterday Nintendoannounced a third wave of Amiibo figurines and Xenoblade’s Shulk just so happened to be part of this wave. Unfortunately with this wave announcement Satoru Iwata said that some Amiibos will be limited in quantity and some will only be available at certain retailers. Well, it looks like the first exclusive Amiibo has been revealed as Shulk’s Amiibo appears to be a GameStop exclusive.
While this may sound like a cheap move, it is worth noting that Xenoblade was only available for purchase through GameStop when the game was released in North America back in 2012. Despite being exclusive, Shulk’s Amiibo will be priced at $12.99 like other figures.
With Great Edo Blacksmith set to be released in a couple of weeks by Nippon Ichi Software in Japan, the company has released the opening video for the game where not only are the three main girls that players will court are shown off, but there is also some artwork of the main character and partners that players will bring into dungeons with them are included.
While Great Edo Blacksmith’s opening theme song is rather bad sounding, the game itself will see players controlling a blacksmith with only one year left to live. In this timeframe players must try to help him find love by courting either Asaka, Kiyohana, or Yugiri. To do this players will be entering dungeons to make money that they can then spend on the girls to learn more about them and maybe get a little personal.
At the moment it is unknown whether or not NIS America is planning on bringing Great Edo Blacksmith to the West but those looking to play the title as soon as possible can import a physical copy of this PS Vita game.
It looks like Uzume is more than just a new character that players will meet in the Zero Dimension of Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II, she is also a new goddess. Today Compile Heart revealed that Uzume is in fact Orange Heart and they have revealed what she will look like in her CPU form. In what is an interesting twist, rather than become more mature like most of the other CPUs, Orange Heart is a more childlike and cute version of Uzume.
You can check out the full scan of Orange Heart below and importers will want to keep an eye out for Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II when it is released for the PS4 in Japan sometime in Spring 2015.
Today Sony announced that Bloodborne, which was initially set to be released on February 6th, has now been delayed to March worldwide with different regions now having different release dates. This PlayStation 4 exclusive will now be available in North America on March 24th, in Europe on March 25th, Japan on the 26th, and finally on the 27th for the UK.
The reason given for the delay is to take the feedback received from Bloodborne‘s limited Alpha test and “deliver the best possible final experience.” While delays are rarely good news, this means that the title will not only be given some extra polish but it also pushes it out of a timeframe that is already packed to the gills with new releases.
Arc System Works has announced that they will be bringing Fantasy Hero: Unsigned Legacy to North America on December 2nd and to other regions in Q1 2015. When released Fantasy Hero: Unsigned Legacy will be available as a digital download for the PS Vita.
Fantasy Hero: Unsigned Legacy takes place in a world where mankind once lived peacefully alongside nature until something called the Decoders came. These creatures that come in all kinds of shapes and sizes slaughtered everything in their path and took over the world in one night. Now twelve years later, the player and up to four of their friends must try and save the world using all different kinds of fighting styles.
Continuing with their week of casting announcements for Free! Eternal Summer, FUNimation has announced that Makoto Tachibana will be voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch. This announcement is a bit of a surprise as he usually does not work with FUNimation but is still quite a well known voice actor for taking on major roles in both anime and video games.
Earlier this week it was announced that J. Michael Tatum would be voicing Rei Ryugazaki and that Greg Ayres will be handing the voice work for Nagisa Hazuki. There is still no set release date for FUNimation’s release of Free! Eternal Summer nor has there been any mention of status of the first season.
