Never put all your good eggs in one basket. We were introduced to Sidonia’s finest pilots at the end of the last episode, a group of four men led by Akai. Recognised as being more skilled than Kunato’s team, the team which includes our main character Nagate, these guys are meant to be the first and last defence against the Gauna which happens to be speeding its way back to the colossal vessel.
Episode 3 begins with the Gravity Festival, Sidonia’s take on a traditional Japanese festival but with a giant robot tournament along with candy apples. As pilots from various teams compete against each other we learn that the Type 17 Garde which Nagate used in his first battle against the Gauna is an old model from the previous century, requiring more pilot input and skill than the largely automated Type 18s that everyone else uses.
Yuhata Midorikawa is the one who realises that Nagate is not an average pilot just by reading the post-battle status of his Type 17. We also learn Yuhata’s brother is in the Akai team.
The arrogant, silver-haired Kunato loses his fight in the tournment to Akai while our hero takes time off with a potential love interest, Shizuka Hoshijiro. Funnily enough, Nagate’s not-male-or-female friend, Izana, has clearly taken a liking to Nagate but his hopes are dashed when he sees him laughing with Shizuka. I’m not exactly sure what this show is intending to do with Izana, whether he will gain a gender depending on his interest in Nagate or they might just kill him off which can be done in a really tragic way I think.
On the bridge of the ship, the captain’s advisor suggests that Yuhata’s strategic genius is enough to replace him as he believes that he should fight the Gauna alongside the pilots. The captain has no intention of having him leave her side, however.
Kunato, still mad from his defeat, proves to be a terrible person by shoving Izana to the ground when they bump into each other, cause the stick of the candy apple to impale in his leg. Nagate comes to help and confronts Kunato who calls him a “subhuman”. When Nagate places his hand on Kunato’s shoulder, it’s almost broken in the ensuing struggle.
Nagate and Izana are invited by Akai to see Sidonia’s ocean, a vast and hidden reservoir of water that covers 1/4th of the ship. They dive in in these awesome bubble crafts. Once again I gotta applaud the designs and detail in this anime. Here Nagate learns that team Akai is set to be deployed against the incoming Gauna.
Which takes place the next second. As each pilot takes off, cheered on by the other pilots who look on via video link, we’re made to think they can handle this. Obviously it won’t be that easy since it’s only episode 3. After the initial skirmish, the Gauna core is exposed by the Higgs cannons mounted on the Gardes but their female pilot, Momose, is caught by the tentacles. Akai makes an on-the-spot decision like a true leader and sacrifices himself to free his lover but the mission is now in chaos.
HQ orders to prepare the quantum cannon once again as each member of the legendary Akai team is taken out, with Momose being the final victim after recklessly charging the Gauna for killing Akai. Here’s a good example of why relationships in combat situations shouldn’t be allowed.
So the Gauna still lives and I expect a hectic next episode as Sidonia musters its defences, probably in the form of Nagate and his Type 17.
Check out more Knights of Sidonia Impressions HERE.
Overview While any form of entertainment can appear light-hearted on the outside, there is always some form of drama to help push the story forward and among visual novel developers, Key is best known for creating emotional stories that are hard to forget. In Little Busters! Collection One a large number of the cast was introduced but only a few of them were given much depth. With Little Busters! Collection Two set to wrap up this series, does the story continue successfully from where it left off?
Story When we last left the Little Busters they were still trying to gather enough people to flesh out their baseball team while also overcome a few past tragedies with their new friends. Riki had already managed to find a number of new friends to join the team including Yuiko, Haruka, Kud, and Komari while also taking on a few small challenges that happen in school life and also helped Komari deal with a trauma involving her brother.
However while Komari’s trauma mostly involved denial, his newfound friend Mio is something else entirely as she is a girl with no shadow. When she is suddenly replaced by a girl who looks just like her named Midori, Riki finds out that everyone around him acts as if Midori has always been there and that a girl named Mio had never existed. After being told by Midori that he too will forget about Mio, Riki is determined to do everything in his power to hold onto his memories of Mio.
To deal with this Riki learns more about Mio’s past all while Midori continues to play with his memories before finding out what has caused Mio’s magical seeming situation. After this things only continue to get more complicated as Haruka’s issues with authority and the student council comes to a head. With Haruka’s family matters being incredibly complicated and her torturous past coming into the light Riki and the rest of the Little Busters band together around her in support as they try to help their friend overcome this harsh ordeal.
Even with Haruka’s issues seeming dark, it is only with Kudryavka do things continue their shift towards darkness. With her mother set to be sent into space as a cosmonaut, Kud is separated from her friends as she must return to her homeland once the worst occurs only for her to have to face a terrible set of events alone. With everything that is happening, the group still does their best to rally together and even manage to hold their first baseball game once everything is said and done.
Or is it? Now the first half of Little Busters! introduced tasks that, if Riki and Rin could complete them, would reveal the secret of the world. Throughout the first half the secret was nothing more than an afterthought compared to Komari’s problem and organizing the team but in this second half the secret becomes something that is always in the back of the viewer’s mind. The tasks brought by the cats are still sparse, but they seem to grow increasingly more relevant to the events at hand and whoever is writing them knows of certain events before they happen.
Things grow ever darker around the group as numerous hints are dropped throughout the second half of the series. While the first half was mostly light-hearted, the tone in Little Busters! Collection Two remains dramatic almost throughout. There are a few minor episodes included between character arcs to provide some light-hearted moments but outside of one specific episode mostly focused on Riki getting messed with by the girls, even these episodes have importance to them as they reveal important details that are called upon later in the series or drop dark omens of what may unfold later.
Little Busters! is a series that can easily be watched a second time through to catch certain moments where a major hint was dropped that can give you the chills. There is much more happening in this world than meets the eye and with hints of magic here and there the secret of the world is ever present and nowhere does it become more evident than when Kud despairs that she must get back to help Rin and Riki.
The Little Busters’ baseball group is a perfect example of everything presented to the viewer. For a baseball team to succeed all of the players must work together and believe in one another and in Little Busters! these characters are all strong enough to pull the team together. In many other series a character such as Haruka who is always joking around and messing with people suddenly undergoing a serious shift with her past being revealed wouldn’t have worked or a ritual with Kud and Riki that could have been simply played off as fan-service actually being something meaningful. However thanks to how Little Busters! has established these characters and has told its story it manages to pull it off exceptionally well.
The same can be said regarding the tone of the series as it swings wildly from laughter to tears as characters experience hardship and grow. While the series is full of heartfelt moments of success it is also mixed in with dramatic moments of failure and the dark side of the world and it is because of this that the tone shifts work so well. However with everything that has been hinted at and revealed so far and memories seemingly forgotten, it seems the worst has yet to come for this tightly bound group of friends.
Visuals It appears that somewhere in the second half of the series J.C. Staff decided to work on their animation department a bit as the animation and character designs have been improved in Collection Two, though they still are a bit of an issue at times. The issues remain however with characters’ faces occasionally looking out of proportion or slightly deformed in group shots which is unfortunate.
As with the first half of the series, the series remains bright and colorful and the amount of detail put into crucial scenes has been increased with some impressive looking moments, especially during Kud and Haruka’s story arcs as both of these feature dramatic moments made more impactful through visual effects.
Audio As with the release of the first half of the series Little Busters! Collection Two includes both an English voice track as well as the original Japanese voice work. The voice actors have all retained their roles and continue to fit them perfectly, which remains a bit surprising since Riki is voiced by a female voice actress. It is worth noting that with the focus highlighting Kud a number of times throughout this second half, a lot of Russian words are used throughout and her voice actress has handled her speech patterns quite well. She even begins to use Kud’s Japanese “wafu” phrase a number of times later on in the release.
The issue regarding the voice work not matching up with the mouth flaps that the last release had did not seem to occur in this release as the voice work matched the character’s mouth movements almost perfectly. The background music throughout the series remains the same as what was found in the first half and both “Little Busters!” and “Alicemagic” from Rita remain the opening and ending themes, although a few different ending themes are used at the end of character arcs.
Extras Little Busters! Collection Two features some rather basic bonus features in the form of Japanese promotional trailers, a clean version of the opening theme, unfortunately it features the same animation found in the first half of the series and not the one used in the second half that features different animated scenes highlighting Haruka and Kud, a clean version of the ending theme, disc credits and trailers for other Sentai Filmworks anime.
Overall Little Busters! tells a beautiful story of friendship and overcoming challenges no matter how painful they may be and Collection Two finishes up the story arc viewers were left off with as well as explores a number of other characters while continuing to pull on your heartstrings with dramatic moments. Few shows can pull off what Little Busters! does but this series does it beautifully. Yet even when everything wraps up in a heartwarming moment, viewers are left with dark omens of the future and of frozen time that will begin to move once more as the story continues in Little Busters Refrain.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
NIS America has recently released a new set of screenshots for both Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection as well as Mugen Souls Z. The first set of screenshots, as seen below, are for Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection which is set to be released for the PS Vita on June 3rd in North America and June 6th in Europe and follows the player as they manage the lives of the four CPUs as they try to become idols.
This second set of screenshots, seen below, are for Mugen Souls Z, the sequel to the previously released Mugen Souls, which is set to be released on the PS3 in North America on May 20th and in Europe on May 23rd.
As you may have heard, Activision has announced their next entry into the Call of Duty series and they aren’t going to be bothering with any past conflicts or even modern warfare. Nope this time they are moving into advanced warfare with a fight that will take place during the year 2054 where PMCs have begun to emerge with powerful weaponry and exoskeletons that provide their soldiers with high-tech gear and special abilities.
If this is catching you off guard a bit, they recently released an announcement trailer a few days ago and in it Kevin Spacey introduced the game which is being developed by Sledgehammer Games and is coming to the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Now to follow that announcement Activision has released a few new screenshots which can be seen both above and below.
Currently Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is set to be released on November 4th and since this title will not be held back by trying to squeeze itself onto last-gen consoles it will certainly be interesting to see what type of power Activision will be able to pull out these new consoles.
Coinciding with the current broadcast of the highly popular anime adaptation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, Viz Media have revealed through a tweet that they are reprinting their release of the Part 3 manga with stock shipping out soon.
@noimjory@dolphinuppercut We already have. Every volume should be in the warehouse by the end of May.
This is of course spectacular news for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fans who have had a tough go at tracking down the English language volumes of the manga series. Some could even speculate that this may be the beginning of Viz Media possibly releasing the series in its entirety (a huge undertaking to say the least) should the series reprint do well in sales due to renewed interest in the series.
Stay tuned for further developments on this story as they come to light. Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Despite being around for as long as the series has been, the Dynasty Warriors series has always been a game that could only be played on consoles and occasionally on handhelds. Well that will soon change as Tecmo Koei has announced that they are planning on releasing Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition on the PC through Steam. This is the first time that the series will be available on the PC and it will be released on May 13th.
To go along with this news the company also released the minimum requirements that a player’s PC must meet to play the title and these specs can be found below:
Operating system Windows Vista / 7/8 / 8.1,
main body CPU: (i7 860 or more recommended Core)
Core2Duo 2.4GHz or more
Memory : 512MB of RAM or more ( 1GB or more recommended)
Recommended Display : 1280X720 pixels or True Color display (can display 16:9)
Hard drive space: 18GB
Video card : VRAM256MB or more ( 512MB or more recommended)
3D acceleration corresponding to pixel shader 3.0 and above
Boom! Episode five already! It’s been just over a month since the start of “Stardust Crusaders” and I feel, at this point in time, we’ve pretty much begun to fully understand just what this show is about BUT, knowing it IS “JJBA”, there could be something in the near future that will throw us off. Last episode we were introduced to the newest “frenemy”, a man named Jean-Pierre Polnareff (Jean-Pierre Eiffel for all you “All-Star Battle” players). Within five short minutes this man had already angered the “CREWsaders” – which, let’s be honest here, really doesn’t take a lot – and issued a challenge to the group’s mystic; Paula Abdul…I mean; Muhammad Avdul…excuse me. Just a little slip of the fingers. Episode 5 “Silver Chariot” revolves mostly around the fight between Polnareff and Avdul but if you’ve yet to read the impressions on episode 4 than I suggest you head here and take a read before moving onto episode 5.
– Check Out My Shiny New Body! –
Check Out My Shiny New Body!
Before any fight in the “JJBA series, as per usual, combatants must first flaunt all their attributes; detailing each and every little thing they could possibly do to the other fighter. This gives the combatants the chance to annoy the living hell out of audience members but remember; we are stupid and need everything explain to us. We first saw this back in the days of “Phantom Blood”, a time when an old friend of all “JJBA” fans (Robert Edward O. Speedwagon) would commentate on literally every single thing that was happening in the scene. R. E. O. Speedwagon isn’t around anymore, God rest his soul, but there IS someone who has taken his place as “annoying guy yelling about everything” and that’s old man Joseph.
Thank God! To think; watching an episode of “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” and NOT being bombarded with obvious information…that’s a world I don’t want to live in. The two men begin explaining what their “Stands” can do. Avdul’s “Magician Red” is one we’re already aware of so most of the spotlight goes to Polnareff who explains that his “Stand” is quick, strong and precise which is entirely unique and, according to him, near unbeatable *cough* “Star Platinum” *cough*. After “fronting” on each other for a fair amount of time, Polnareff decides to take the fight outside to a place where he believes Avdul can truly unleash the power of his “Stand”. What a gentleman!
– Stand Grudge Match: Silver Chariot VS Magician Red. –
Stand Grudge Match: Silver Chariot VS Magician Red.
Heading out to the “Tiger Balm Gardens”, which I’m told is an actual place, the two begin their fight. A quick Google search for “Tiger Balm Gardens” will show you that the eccentricity of the environment to which the battle took place in wasn’t that over-exaggerated bar the overly vibrant colouring system. “Tiger Balm Gardens” does indeed look as whacky and wonderful as it was portrayed in the episode. The fight between the two “Stands” definitely was the highlight of the episode for me, not only because it was the bulk but because it sported some incredibly beautiful pieces of animation.
The burning fires of “Magician Red” going up against the glistening armour of “Silver Chariot” on a back drop like the “Tiger Balm Gardens” made for an incredibly exhilarating set of scenes. As much as I make fun of “Stardust Crusaders”, there’s no real doubt in my mind that it actually is an incredible series…it just so happens to be one with many dialogue and story flaws…if that makes sense. The two continue to duke it out but it looks as though “Silver Chariot” has begun to take the lead, dealing out some powerful blows while all the while toying with Avdul and “Magician Red”…a mistake he’ll eventually come to regret. Avdul decides to stop mucking around and dishes out when hell of a finishing move which knocks Polnareff back, sends “Silver Chariot” back to wherever “Stands” go when they’re not visible and “wins” the battle…or so he seems.
– Allow Me To Slip Into Something More Comfortable. –
Allow Me To Slip Into Something More Comfortable.
As Polnareff lies there burning, the group decide to head off, each with their own assumptions about Polnareff’s condition. Jotaro being Jotaro, he says something along the lines of “He’ll probably die. Best case scenario; he’ll just be burned really bad for the rest of his life”. Kakyoin being Kakyoin, he says something along the lines of “clearly he wont be able to walk for at least three months”. Avid watchers of “Stardust Crusaders” will know that it seems, no matter what these people say, they’re always right…well, guess what? They’re wrong and I think it’s about time they all shut the hell up with the assumptions! Poof! Polnareff shoots up into the air but, oddly enough, he’s still lying on his back.
“What!?” they all exclaim. It seems like the “CREWsaders” were all wrong, how could this be? We’re met with “Silver Chariot” ejecting his armour off of its body revealing a slender, streamlined version of itself. Polneraff, obviously NOT deceased, explain that his “Stand” has an ability that makes it a great deal faster and all he has to do is get rid of the armour around it. Good thing he goes into great detail, it wasn’t at all obvious. Polnareff begins his counter attack by creating “Shadow Clones” using the speed of his “Stand” in an illusionary way. “There’s six! No! SEVEN of them now!” old man Joseph explains. “Silver Chariot” has become so much faster than he was before, too bad Muhammad “Paula” Avdul, it looks like this is the end for you.
– A Mystical Fire Burns Oh So Brighter! –
A Mystical Fire Burns Oh So Brighter!
Forgetting that Mr. Avdul has some of the longest sleeves (in which tricks can be placed), Polnareff goes all out with a flurry of stabs, slices and cuts, thinking he’s truly got Avdul in a corner. For the most part it really does look like the mystic is stuck between a rock and a silver robot man…LOOKS like! Avdul, for the second time in the episode, decides; “enough is enough!” and begins HIS counter attack! Counter, counter attack. You get what I mean. Repeating what he said earlier he explains that he can control flames, bending and shaping them to his very will. To Polnareff’s surprise it seems as though the sneaky man dug what looks to be some sort of “fire hole” with one of his earlier attacks, too bad that it’s too late, huh Polnareff? BOOM! The Frenchman gets hit with a devastating flame attack and goes down like a sack of “foie gras”!
“You’re ten years too early to be able to beat me” Avdul says with a smirk as he throws a sharp dagger to the man now on fire. “Kill yourself with this dagger, it’ll be a lot less painful than burning to death”, what a considerate man he is! Such a gentleman, Jonathan would be so proud! Despite having his back turned, Polnareff does not use the dagger to strike at Avdul nor does he use the dagger to end his own life. He believes that to die by Avdul’s flames would be the proper way for him to go, that’s when the flames go out…Avdul is moved by Polnareff’s actions and decides to leave him be but not before calling on doctor Jotaro to get rid of his “flesh bud”. Leaving the man to think about just what he’d done, the team head for the docks where they’ll jump on a boat and begin sailing to Egypt. It’s been a long day, especially for the smouldering Frenchman. That’s NOT a euphemism.
– Polnareff: A Life In Retrospect. –
Polnareff: A Life In Retrospect.
Polnareff actually seems like a nice guy and he’s not the type to let the team head off on their adventure before giving them one of his most heartfelt apologies, unfortunately Avdul wont accept it because he believes Jotaro truly saved him from DIO’s “flesh bud” and Jotaro wont accept it because well…he’s a royal dick, excuse my language. Avdul asks that Polnareff tell the group his story and, taking exactly three steps away from them simply to gaze upon the sea, he lets loose the story of Jean-Pierre Eiffel, I mean…Polnareff. Many years ago his sister and her school friend were confronted by a man like no other. It was a rainy afternoon but no droplet seemed to actually make contact with this trench coat-clad individual, clearly he was a man in possession of a “Stand”. The friend of the sister was clearly the lucky one only being dealt a shocking slice to her chest that nearly killed her, Polnareff’s sister…rest in peace. The friend made it out and immediately alerted Polnareff, I would have gone to the police but an older brother is pretty much the same.
She described the man as having two right hands and, ever since that day, he’s been searching for the killer of his beloved sister which led him to come under the spell of DIO with the dark lord promising him revenge. Making his story known to the group, Polnareff asks one of the stupidest questions of heard in recent times; he questions Joseph Joestar noting that he never once took off his gloves. Polnareff seems to assume that, under the old man’s gloves, are two right hands despite the fact that simple gloves would not mask such a mistake in human creation…but no-one calls him out on it…why? The group gets interrupted by two young ladies who’ve become entranced by Jotaro’s good looks, they ask for him to take their picture and he tells them to “get lost”. Classic Jotaro. Polnareff, though, is more than happy to snap a couple pictures, this particular scene shows his more playful side. Clearly this new addition to the group is going to be the laugh-bringer for the rest of the series. Oh! I didn’t tell you? Yeah, he decided to join the “CREWsaders”, that may have taken you by surprise…if you’re the types of anime watchers that skip the opening sequence. Another addition to the team and the start of another leg of the adventure! Hazzah!
Check out the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders” anime on Crunchyroll and check out more episode impressions HERE.
Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor in Doctor Who (2011-2013), has signed on and is playing “a new character with a strong connection to John Connor”. Smith joins Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi and Byung Hun Lee. He can also be seen next on the big screen in Lost River, directed by Ryan Gosling, starring alongside Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan and Eva Mendes.
We’re giving away 10x Capsule Computers CC IndieGala Every Monday #5 bundle packs which includes a total of 6 fantastic PC Indie games. (See below for list of games)
First announced back in March, science fiction indie title Space Run has opened its new website and has been given a set of new screenshots which you can see below. The website contains info on the game’s story, gameplay as well as videos and screenshots.
Developed by Passtech Games, a one-man studio lead by Sylvain Passot, Space Run is being billed as a homage to ’80s sci-fi with its familiar tropes and references.
Set in the year 2525, you play as captain Buck Mann whose job is to transport cargo from one end of the galaxy to the other. Asteroid belts, pirates and fierce competition are some of the things that will hamper your job in this strategy-cross-tower defense game.
