If Bandai Namco hasn’t stuck yet, prepared to be a bit more confused by another brand change. Starting July 1st, Tecmo Koei, famous for Dynasty Warriors and several other franchises, will be changing their name to Koei Tecmo. This change will only be effective in Europe on that date and at this moment it is unclear if the rest of the west will receive the same treatment.
As you know, Koei and Tecmo merged in 2009, so while this move is surprising, it isn’t too shocking. I personally will still use Tecmo Koei until everything is official, but those boxarts will be reflecting the new brand at the start of the month for Europe. If the company keeps it up with assisting in the development with titles like Hyrule Warriors and so on, I honestly can say the fruits are all that is relevant at this moment.
The beginning of a new, as-of-yet unconfirmed, trilogy, Transformers: Age of Extinction marks the return of director Michael Bay after a brief, yet committed absence from the franchise for all of six months. Although he intended to cease association after Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Bay signed back on after studio heads heeded his opinion that the franchise would suffer from viewer fatigue and disinterest with the same old characters, and granted his wishes for a fresh cast and take on the storyline moving forward. You may not like him, but you’ve got to respect the man; he knows how to make money and do business. Now, the question is, did the changes he championed make for a good film?…
“Calling all Autobots!”
Story
Transformers: Age of Extinction takes place four years after the events of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, when the city of Chicago was devastated by the conflict with Sentinel, Megatron and his Decepticon forces. Introduced at the outset are the main human protagonists in Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), an engineer who fancies himself a genius inventor of what are actually crude robotics, his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), who regards herself the mature one of the two, and T.J. Miller as Lucas, an employee of Cade’s workshop who considers himself virtually a member of the family, and at one point proclaims to Tessa “I’m practically your uncle”. As you may tell by that line, he is the comic relief of the picture, at least for the first hour. Cade is the classic overprotective dad, and though Tessa plays damsel in distress for a portion of the movie, she doesn’t represent that aggravating trope on a whole, getting into the action in a pivotal moment in the final act and also, expressing some wise-for-her-age opinions. At the same time, she is a 17 year old teenager whose “shorts are getting shorter by the second” and looks forward to getting drunk with her girlfriends.
Cade is responsible for the duo’s lack of steady income with his hobby-like work and constant spending on junk just so that he can fix it. One day, he stumbles upon a Marmon 97′ semi truck hidden away in the front of an old theatre, the owner of which is selling some items when not making tongue-in-cheek, self-aware jokes about lazy sequels and digital vs film. Pressuring Lucas to give him $250 to pay for it, Cade tows it home to his barn; a decision that changes their lives forever. Discovering it to actually be an injured Optimus Prime, Cade removes a missile lodged in the engine and is clued in by the Autobot leader about a hunt for all his remaining compadres. Hoping for a cash payment, Lucas had taken it upon himself to call the government number posted on ads all over town, requesting civilians give up the location of any known “Transformers”. Soon, agent Savoy (Titus Welliver) and an all-black autocade of personnel arrive, attempting to intimidate Cade into divulging the whereabouts of Optimus, before physically handling and threatening his daughter. Optimus busts out, allowing the three to escape down the property where a racer named Shane (Jack Raynor) launches into the fray; the getaway driver who happens to be Tessa’s boyfriend…a revelation that Cade is furious about, naturally.
The Terminator-esque bad-ass that is Lockdown
Yes, there are numerous cliche interactions between the afore-detailed archetypes, but overall, these human characters are not nearly as annoying as they should, by all rights, be – it helps when you cast someone with actual charisma and acting chops like Mark Wahlberg. Nicola Peltz does a great job herself, coming off of a major role in TV series Bates Motel. On the villains’ side, Welliver is reliable as ever (evil suits him perfectly) and Kelsey Grammer, who pulls the strings on the operation to dismantle all living Cybertronians on Earth as Harold Attinger, is a welcome, credible addition. The U.S. government isn’t all bad though, and this antagonistic section were not actually the hunter Optimus referred to; that would be Lockdown (Mark Ryan), a intergalactic bounty hunter who has commandeered a Cybertronian “Nightship”. Optimus rallies what is remaining of the Autobots in samurai Drift (Ken Watanabe), Hound (John Goodman), Crosshairs (John DiMaggio) and of course, Bumblebee. Crosshairs is the attitude-filled rebel of the bunch, with Drift deserving significantly more screen time than he gets, while Hound is very vocal and spotlighted in a long shootout displaying his expertise with many types of artillery.
Cade aiding the Autobots with an alien rifle
As if there weren’t enough enemies for the good guys, Stanley Tucci’s Joshua Joyce, CEO of tech corporation KSI, has discovered a newly recognised Earth metal he names “transformium” – “it’s what they’re made of” – and has begun creating Transformers of his own. His motives are all related to making money, and doing business with the government is the best way to do so. The film is darker in tone, with a human death and a jaded, pissed off Prime, but there are funny scenes throughout too, one of which sees Bumblebee chucking a hissy fit after being insulted by the creation of his apparently superior counterpart at KSI. The narrative moves to China, ostensibly a plot point that was written in to appeal to the Chinese market, garnering their official support (the first Western film to have it) and negotiating investment that stipulated the incorporation of local actors and product placement. BingBing Li’s casting is a perfect example of this pandering. It’s extremely obvious but, all things considered, well integrated into the script. At the end of the day, this is another Transformers movie, so you know what you’re getting to a large degree…maybe the quality is simply higher this go around. The most intriguing outcome is the concept of Cybertronians’ “creators” as Lockdown calls them (used in a TV spot)…could they be the Quintessons?
Visuals & Audio
The expert, special effects wizards at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) have been considered, alongside Weta Digital, the kings of motion picture CGI. With their mastery on display in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and Iron Man(2008), it was Transformers (2009) that blew people’s minds. It takes countless hours to generate and render even one frame of on-screen CGI goodness, but what’s truly remarkable is the fact that these artists are animating and creating robots consisting of thousands of parts; Optimus alone contains over 10,000 parts. Fun fact: if only one machine were used to render Transformers: Dark of the Moon, it would have taken 22.8 years to complete! The ‘Driller’ from that third entry was an immense undertaking, made up of 70,051 parts and taking 288 hours per frame to render, so for fans to expect something larger and more ambitious is almost entirely unfair, but inevitable all the same – ILM employees seem to be quite the sado-masochists. Though those numbers weren’t surpassed in Transformers: Age of Extinction, it doesn’t mean the film was devoid of visually stunning and impressive sequences and elements that we haven’t witnessed before.
Oh, I forgot about Galvatron! His set-up is important for future releases…mega-important, you could say.
On a smaller note, the Dinobots’ initial transformations from Primary Mode (humanoid) to Alternate Mode (dinosaur) are glorious, partly by virtue of their sheer scale, but mainly because they are unique; their tails form as their abdomens and heads spin forward, and, putting it colloquially…it just looks cool! Speaking of transformations, the method by which KSI’s prototypes do so is the other neat visual element, as they dematerialise into the amorphous “transformium” that comprises them, and then rematerialise into their desired form, maintaining their momentum in forward movement, but also able to weave around objects and travel further in the process. Appreciated is the controlled, supplementary use of 3D and cleaner, well-choreographed and framed fight scenes between the robots, which has been an issue in the past…although the pace of many battles is just as fast, if not more than those in previous installments. Viewers shouldn’t have concerns about the voice acting with series veterans Peter Cullen and Frank Welker – Optimus and Galvatron respectively – along with the rest of the V.O. cast delivering. The only notably ill-fitting implementation of music of any kind is the rare, intermittent and forced use of Imagine Dragons’ original track ‘Battle Cry’.
Yes, Grimlock breathes fire…he doesn’t talk, but he breathes fire!
Overall
Transformers: Age of Extinction might very well be the best entry yet, although how much weight that statement holds when looking at its predecessors is dubious. Personally, it held my attention much more successfully than the last two films, which is surprising considering it has the longest run-time of them all. That being said, it could have done with a slight trim of about 10-15 minutes as there were some human filler moments, which is to be expected. Fortunately, Wahlberg and co. do a more admirable and palatable job than the prior trilogy’s principal cast, and the humour that he and Tucci delivers actually works, probably due to their further-honed improvisational savvy. The action is just as bombastic, and though the Dinobots’ inclusion comes late, fans will certainly get a kick out of their involvement. The events of the film also takes the franchise in a new direction with the origin story twist that foreshadows a continuation likely based on the original G1 narrative. Either way, none of the other Transformers movies have produced this amount of speculation and anticipation for where we are headed next…I’m actually excited for a Transformers movie!
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
If there’s anything that people love about the shonen genre, it’s the heroes daily lives. You know, the relatable grind that takes place between the battles for the world’s safety…ok, so maybe it’s not everybody’s favourite part. So when a series arises that combines both daily life and over the top action into one solid experience, you couldn’t be blamed for expecting the worst. But the question still lingers, is your assumption correct?
Story
Medaka Kurokami is amazing. Not just at one thing either, you name it, she can do it. Combined with her immensely charismatic personality and undying love for all of humanity, Medaka managed to become Student Council President with a whopping 98% of the vote. Pretty good for a first-year. As her first act as Student Council President, she implements a suggestion box designed to collect the wishes and complaints of all students of Sandbox Academy, so that Medaka may help her fellow students. Isn’t she sweet?
In line with its shonen style, the series takes a “problem of the week format” wherein Medaka and her ever growing band of accomplices do the damndest to assist those in need. Whether rescuing a Borzoi (Russian Wolf-Hound) or holding an inter-club aquatic event, no task is too grand or too ridiculous for the Student Council. This sporadic sequencing of event allows the series to remain interesting despite its limited scope of environment. In the event that the audience may become complacent in regards to scenery, the school itself will adopt an over the top atmosphere to liven things up, such as the inconceivably complex multi-purpose pool that was forgotten about until part way into the anime. How convenient a rediscovery. Though this aquatic realm did allow some rather interesting moments to occur. Damn swim team…
Somewhat contrasting the action of the series, which is often presented for the sake of awesomeness alone, characters inner turmoil is surprisingly realistic. Take Hitoyoshi for example. Though he complains about everything Medaka does, he is fully aware that he has fallen under her spell and would do anything to help her without question. Even Medaka herself is revealed to have some major depth, a fact often concealed by her over zealous attitude towards everything. It would seem that even those who outwardly appear to be in full control of their life suffer from internal doubt. A powerful message from any medium, let alone an anime that features a School Disciplinary Committee armed to the teeth. It’s like nobody knows what the word excessive means.
The series also does a remarkable job at turning what originally appear to be asinine actions, into revelatory moments for the most unsuspecting characters. For example, Medaka’s “Pretentious Appeal to Innate Goodness” is so ridiculously shonen that it loops back around to actually being effective. Think about that for a minute. Medaka is so ridiculous, even by the standards of this series, that others cannot help but be taken aback. Even her best friend doesn’t understand why everybody loves Medaka when, by all accounts, they should hate her overbearing personality. However, this fact itself is later twisted into a truly sad moment when, due to her accepted superhuman abilites, every student assumes certain events are completely normal…they’re not. It’s honestly rather meta how, much like the students of Sandbox Academy, the audience too cannot help but like this unbelievable character.
Visuals
Medaka Box is everything you expect from a shonen series. Ridiculously bright hair colours, impossibly fit high school students and facial features that could cut diamond…did I mention they were in high school? The fact that the series featured such a diverse range of character models, whilst probably not accurate to school life, created a cast that was never a chore to watch. Characters could shift from cute to intimidating in the blink of an eye and they’re completely ridiculous degree of dexterity and power provided some interestingly action packed mundanity. Seriously, confiscating cigarettes has never looked so cool.
One negative that should be noted in regards to the series visuals pertain solely to the English dub. Though by no means a common occurrence, there were times when voices were not completely in sync with a characters mouth. Not a tremendous deal, but if your paying attention, you will notice it at points.
Audio
The English dub of Medaka Box is pretty solid. Though it may take a few minutes to adjust to each characters voice, Hitoyoshi for example sounded a lot deeper than I anticipated, you will soon come to accept and enjoy their dialogue. Shelleey Calene-Black for example, does an excellent job in conveying the accidental pretentiousness that arises from her innate ability to do everything well. At the same time, certain vocal moments will also remind you to never piss off Medaka…seriously, it won’t end well for you.
Extras
This release is pretty standard when it comes to included extras. You’ve got your typical textless opening and ending and a number of trailers, teasers, promos and video spots for the series. Though still fitting into this category, there is also a very brief glimpse at the characters of Season Two, which is cool. Though in all honesty you get a better look at them in the final moments of Episode 12.
Overall
Medaka Box is one of those anime series that does not exactly sync up with what you read on the back of the box. Rather than being a simple story of a Student Council that has to face some mildly quirky problems, this is a series that forces all of the intensity and ludicrousness of a shonen epic into the walls of a high school. As such, episodes periodically explode with bursts of uncontrollable action and a cast of characters who truly stand out from the world in which they were cast. Not to be outdone by itself, the series also features moments of surprising emotional weight, wherein characters are given more than a simple defining personality quirk…most characters at least. All in all, Medaka Box is an over the top series, full of over the top characters, who do over the top things, in an over the top world. Though from the glimpse caught of the characters who will appear next season, Medaka Box may get crazier still…
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
There’s just something about mixing video games ad reality that is taking the world by storm. We live in an age where playing video games is something that more and more people are doing each day so, in a way, it makes sense for a great deal of these anime, manga, comics and graphic novel writers to base a story around the phenomenon that is the expanding world of video games. What worries me is that there happens to be an abundance of these storylines flinging around the pop culture world right now and each of them are quite similar in certain ways which makes me think that, eventually, the general populous is going to get tired of seeing it…I know that’s my case right now but I’m hoping a series like “Accel World” – one I was told countless times is a great series – can restore my love for stories of its kind. Thanks to the young, Australian anime publisher “Hanabee” I’ve been given the chance to review the first part of the “Accel World” series. Follow me on this trip to see just how good (or bad) the series is.
Story
“Accel World: Part 2 / 2” continues directly off from where Part 1 / 2 ends and does a good job at upping the ante when it comes to the severity of the situations these characters are thrown into. Haruyuki is thrown into certain key situations (of which I shouldn’t divulge because it would be a massive spoiler) that really test his character. What I enjoyed about this style of storytelling is that it showed the main character living in a negative light rather than the “perpetual happiness” that seems to surround these Anime main characters. After he looses the thing most important to him, he is thrown into a sever depression and must work his way out of it and back to his former glory. This was so interesting to see because it is things like this that are barely ever addressed in these types of shows. What I didn’t like however was the unnecessary silliness of badly-written dialogue which seems to have attached itself to the series like a plague. For the most part, characters had superfluous dialogue pieces that were repeated every single episode. By the end of the series I felt like I had listened to the same thing twenty four times because it felt like the game of “Brain Burst” had to be explained at least once an episode. Apart from that I actually found myself somewhat enjoying the series so I can’t say the story was written all that terribly, just the dialogue.
Visuals
Aesthetically this series looked brilliant and it helped a great deal to see it all in Blu-Ray quality. When I reviewed the first part of this series I was majorly unimpressed with the visual quality of it apart from when the series switched gears and entered into a fight scene. Part two really took me by surprise because, no mater what, it always looked very nice and very neat which actually kept me glued to the screen despite my bleak look on it’s story. What stood out the most would have to be it’s vibrant colour palette mixed with the dark and gritty palette of the world within “Brain Burst”. There was an obvious elevation in animation quality when an fight scene kicked in. That mixed with the well-designed in-game characters really made for quite the visually pleasing anime series. There’s no doubt in my mind that “Accel World” is a fantastic looking series now that part two has officially proven itself to me.
Audio
“Accel World: Part 2 / 2” did one thing extremely well; it’s soundtrack. Much like the first release from this series, Par two featured one hell of a fantastic soundtrack that worked will to bring a sense of gravitas to particularly ‘heavy’ scenes. The greatest thing about the soundtrack was that it used a bunch of different genres to properly portray what it is the series needed to. From rock to electro, “Part two” had it all and it honestly had me paying special attention so I could be able to pick up on a track as soon as it begun. What let the series down though is its appalling voice cast. I feel terrible saying something so harsh but it was the God-honest truth. There were only maybe one or two character throughout the twelve episodes that featured on this release that actually did a good job voice acting but unfortunately their lines were cliché and actually quite annoying but they clearly had the talent to pull their lines off regardless. The voice actors of the main characters seemed as though they were simply reading lines off of a page rather than actually acting. Unfortunately this made for some cringe-worthy lines of dialogue.
Extras
Unfortunately “Accel World Part Two” came with only the bare bones when it comes to its special features. Only two actual extras were included on-disc and they were the opening sequence and closing sequence which are two standard features for Anime releases. Something I would consider an “extra” is the actual case for the release which is actually quite unique to this series. Part one of two was released with the same style of CD case which looks nice but does not actually feature any description as to what it is that is inside. Only the spine features the series’ title but not what specific release it is. This one just so happens to be part two of two. Instead of displaying on the case that the contents inside are Blu-Ray or DVD, the case features a paper sleeve that reads “also available on DVD” or “also available on blu-ray”. I just felt as though the case could have been more explanatory while still being unique and shelf-worthy. This was not.
Overall
“Accel World: Part 2 / 2” did a lot of things good but unfortunately for everything it did well it also did things terribly and it really put a huge dampen my overall experience of the series. I very much enjoyed the visual aspects of “Accel World”, it’s aesthetics kept me watching the series all the way until the very end but it’s voice cast worked to only test my patience and almost made me give up on the series entirely. Luckily I stuck with it all the way because I feel as though it paid off by the end. While I didn’t absolutely love this series, I also don’t regret watching the entire thing. There were certain aspects of the series that could have been done so much better but it definitely does feature some things that people will remember for years to come.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
We knew that it was only a matter of time before this happened, today it was revealed thanks to the cover of next month’s Shueisha Comic News from Newsmangajapon, that Assassination Classroom, also known as Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, is going to be given an anime adaptation as well as a live action film. The anime adaptation is planned to air next year at some time and though at the moment no details about who will be animating the series have been revealed, Brains Base animated an OVA for the series in October of last year.
Back in May Viz Media announced that they had picked up the rights to publish the original manga adaptation, currently nine volumes in length, in North America with the first volume set to drop in December. For those unfamiliar with the series, Assassination Classroom involves a strange alien-like creature that looks a bit like an octopus that is capable of breaking the sound barrier and is nearly indestructible. This alien, called Korosensei, has already destroyed part of the moon and says that he will destroy the earth itself in a year, unless the students that he has chosen to teach for an unknown can assassinate him within that time frame.
Earlier today we wrote about how Tecmo Koei and Nintendo were releasing gameplay clips of Hyrule Warriors showing off each of the weapons the fighters will have access to and now they have released a new trailer showing Impa, the Commanding Officer of the Hyrule Imperial Guard, wielding a large sword.
However that isn’t the biggest news, as it has been revealed by Famitsu that two new playable characters will be available in Hyrule Warriors. One we are familiar with, or at least those who played Twilight Princess, as the bug lover Agitha, and another who is called Lana. Gematsu was able to learn that Lana is an original character that is a witch who that uses magic books in battle and also create barriers to shove aside enemies. We will know more once the official announcement for these two characters are made.
While fans of the series in the West are anxiously waiting for Danganronpa 2 to be released in English on September 2nd by NIS America, the series’ spin-off title is going to be released a few weeks later in Japan. Today Famitsu, courtesy of Hokanko, has revealed that Danganronpa: Another Episode will be released in Japan on September 25th.
As mentioned, Danganronpa: Another Episode takes place between Danganronpa 1 and 2 and players will be controlling Komaru, Naegi’s sister. Komaru is being attacked by Monokumas and with the help of Toko Fukawa she will use a megaphone hacking weapon to survive the Monokuma attacks. The magazine also stated that there will be ten different types of Monokuma and that other characters from the Danganronpa titles will appear, though no hint was given as to who.
8-Bit Commandois inspired by 8-bit platforming shooters of yester-years.
Starlite Astronaut Academy: G-Ball is a sports game that mixes dodgeball, football, and basketball that was developed jointly with NASA.
Kill Fun Yeahis a 2d platform shooter featuring wacky weapons and deadly power-ups.
Dead Bitsis a colourful FPS about alien zombies. The game features a pixelated art style and a dubstep soundtrack by Frost Orb.
EDGEis a puzzle game that will challenge players to navigate their cube through 100+ levels.
Ludwigis an educational adventure game about physics. After crash landing on Earth, Ludwig must learn about renewable energy to bring back to his space station. The game was developed with the help of physics teachers.
Plithis a puzzle game about split second decisions inspired by Clik Clak. The game is currently on Steam Greenlight.
The Every Monday Bundle #13 is available at Indie Gala. For the first 24 hours of the sale, the price will be $1.00. After that, the price goes up, so be sure to pick up your copy of the Every Monday Bundle #13 now!
You may remember a game from a few years ago called Ciel no Surge where players had to help the amnesiac girl Ion. Well that game received a sequel of sorts called Ar no Surge for the PlayStation 3 and while neither of these games were ever given a chance in the West, it seems like Tecmo Koei and Gust are not done with the series yet. Today it has been revealed in Famitsu magazine, courtesy of Hokanko, that Gust is creating an enhanced version of Ar no Surge for release on the PS Vita called Ar no Surge Plus.
Ar no Surge Plus, a reworked version of the game that includes new costumes and Vita touch features, is going to be released on October 2nd in Japan alongside an offline version of Ciel no Surge that has supposedly been reprogrammed from scratch. Will this happen? Well Tecmo Koei Europe seems interested according to the Tweet below, so make sure to let them know.
“@Sterkenburg0: @tecmokoeieurope Is there any hope left for Ciel nosurge and Ar nosurge?” — How many of our #TKfamily wishes for this one?
— KOEI TECMO EUROPE (@koeitecmoeurope) May 23, 2014
Atlus has just published Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth in Japan and it looks like they are already about to announce a new game. A teaser site simply called ‘This is not Broccoli‘ has been created by Atlus and the page consists of a gigantic tree that players must click a button to climb up.
As they climb a few colored orbs appear and once you reach the 10,000 meter mark the orbs form 2DX and the words Coming Soon appear under said orbs. Thanks to the font choices as well as the tree theme, it is evident that Atlus is probably teasing a new Etrian Odyssey game and going from the orbs, it might be a remake of the second game in the series, Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard. So we can likely expect the announcement of Etrian Odyssey 2DX sometime in the future.
