Next week, Tuesday the 4th of March, Rockstar Games are set to release ‘The Business Update’ for GTA Online on PSN and Xbox Live. Included will be a number of new vehicles, weapons and clothing options, and just like was the case with the Valentine’s Day Massacre Special, the former two additions will be available in both GTA Onlineand Story Mode.
“The Turismo R and Alpha evading LSPD pursuit through downtown Los Santos”
Players will have access to the Albany Alpha, Dinka Jester and Grotti Turismo R sports cars, as well as the Vestra airplane. Drop by your local Ammu-Nation to purchase the Heavy Pistol and Special Carbine. And dress for success with fresh formal and business casual attire, from suit jackets and slacks to glasses, heels and blouses. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to rock some “all-business” hairdos, currency themed tattoos (douche personified) and one of many from a brand new collection of masks.
“Take to the skies in the luxurious Vestra”
In Story Mode, your weapons will be deposited into all three characters’ inventory with two full ammo-clips, and all three cars will be accessible from their garage properties. In GTA Online, you’ll be able to purchase the new weapons and their attachments at any Ammu-Nation location while the vehicles will be available for purchase from either Legendary Motorsport or Elitas. A special note: this weekend is the final chance for you to grab Albany Roosevelt limousine, the Gusenberg Sweeper machine gun and all the rest of the exclusive items from the Valentine’s Day Massacre Special as they will no longer be available to purchase after midnight PST this Sunday, March 2nd.
“The Heavy Pistol and Special Carbine, two new weapons available as part of The Business Update”
Stay tuned to Capsule Computers as we continue to bring you the latest GTA Online updates, including forthcoming details about the imminent Business Update Event Weekend, information on future Online Heists, the Capture Creator add-on, additional Assassination and Flight School missions for Story Mode and a whole lot more.
The exciting new multiplayer online battle arena title is set in the DC universe, allowing players to utilize the DC heroes we’ve all come to love. This newest update reveals three new heroes: Mecha Superman, the Green Arrow, and Aquaman. These will be available for play alongside Superman, Batman, Superwoman, and more. The open beta will reveal Infinite Crisis’s new tri-lane map, “Gotham Divided”, in addition to the new heroes. Below, you’ll find the trailers that show what skills they each possess and what they are like when you play them.
Make sure to keep an eye out for this exciting MOBA game, and for more information, check out their site here.
To celebrate the first release of adventure game Syberia on the Mac platform, Microids has unveiled some new artwork from their upcoming adventure title, Syberia 3. The development team is happy to be able to share the new artwork that represents the discovery of the Youkol cam by the saga’s heroin, Kate Walker.
Microids VP, Eliot Grassiano, explains:
“…as we keep having a new audience discover the unique univers of Syberia through adaptations on mobiles, tablets, today Mac and soon PS3 and Xbox 360, we progress in the creation of the third episode of Kate Walker’s adventures.”
For more information on the Syberia franchise, be sure to check out their official website here.
Hozuki No Reitetsu Episode 8 – The Trashy Battle/The 36 views Of Hell
Another week, another episode and I’m so glad because I cannot get enough of Hozuki No Reitetsu. Welcome back to another installment of Hozuki No Reitetsu Anime Impressions, I hope you’ve all been as excited about this new episode as I have! This week marks the release of Hozuki No Reitetsu episode eight: Hell’s biggest idiot, Koban the cat journalist, and hell’s number one artist, Nasubi the Hokusai fan, take the spotlight in this weeks episode which tells us to follow our dreams into greatness and, if you come across Hozuki more than once, you’re one unlucky son of a gun! Step into Hozuki No Reitetsu episode 8 with me where some journalists just don’t know when to quit and some painters are so talented it’s like their artworks literally jump off the page!
The Trashy Battle:
Trashy magazines are all the rage here on Earth and it looks like, according to Hozuki No Reitetsu, they’re all the damn rage down there in hell too! The only difference between the trashy journalists up here and the trashy journalists down there is that, down in hell…they’re cats…which rocks for citizens of the internet! Those people love cats!
Koban is back once again to wreak journalistic havoc on poor, little Peach maki who’s album has just been released, Koban sees this as the perfect opportunity to catch the popular star doing something odd or outlandish. Koban, if you don’t remember, is the cat journalist who caused trouble for Peach Maki once before but, with the help of our friend Hozuki, he was quickly scared off…clearly he didn’t learn his lesson. He heads out to stalk Miss Maki but inevitable runs into Hozuki which we all know means bad news. True idiots are people who don’t learn from their mistakes and it’s clear that Koban is hells biggest moron.
He tries to bait Hozuki and Maki into creating some sort of love scandal just so he can nab a scoop but Mr. Hozuki quickly puts him in his place and makes the ulcer left in his stomach from the last time they met double in size. This was one of the goofier episodes with the return of the naked old hag and her dreams of being a pin-up model. With references to “Puss In Boots”, “The Smurfs” and “Felix The Cat” how could you not love this show?
The thing I love most of all about Hozuki No Reitetsu is the personification of these animal characters and the way they interact; it’s so standard, so normal and apart from the odd “bark” or “meow” they’re pretty much the same as the human-type characters. I’m also finding Hozuki himself to be funnier and funnier as each episode comes out, his stern faces and the dark vibes he gives off are some of the funniest things I’ve seen in comedy anime titles and I really hope he continues to get funnier. Also, just as a little note; they actually used Peach Maki’s song from the episode as the ending theme this week, whether or not it continues on in the coming weeks is something I can’t confirm.
The 36 Views Of Hell:
Who knew Nasubi was so damn talented. Our little white-haired demon pal, Nasubi, takes centre stage in this half of this weeks episode as we take a little dive into his private life where we’re shown that he’s actually a damn good artist. Hozuki notices that one of the walls in hell that once hosted a beautiful mural of the rolling spike hills has started to fade away with time, it’s natural since it was done over a hundred years ago according to Mr. Hozuki. Nasubi, the lazy little demon, turns out to be one heck of an artist; painting, drawing, sculpting, carving, the kid does it all!
I guess Hozuki, despite his dark demeanour, is still the type of guy to give credit when credit is due seeing as he actually enjoys Nasubi’s art and asks that he re-paint the mural I mentioned earlier. Obvious Nasubi accepts and takes on the task with gusto but what was so great about Nasubi’s art that Hozuki simply couldn’t move past? I’ll tell you; it practically jumped right off the page.
Using some odd demon rock that he found while wandering around hell, Nasubi crushed it up and turned it into a paint that brings to life anything he paints, Hozuki takes advantage of this and gets him to use that particular paint on the mural. After some conversation about Nasubi’s interest in Tatsushika Hokusai’s (my favourite artist) work, Hozuki takes him to his blank medium and they get to work on hell’s next big tourist attraction. I just loved this episode simply because of all the references to Hokusai and his work. He’s an artist I studied back in high school so you can imagine my excitement when he gets brought up, especially when the mentions go on for the whole episode.
We also get a pretty big look into the personal life of Nasubi, a character I would never have suspected to be a talented artist but it seems like in the world of Hozuki No Reitetsu, typical character tropes aren’t necessarily focused on. Episode 8 wasn’t necessarily a funny one but it was a nice one regardless, I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the first half of the episode which seems to be something really odd that I do every week. Hozuki No Reitetsu looks good and it makes me feel good so I’m going to stick with it for now, if I ever do drop the series, you all will be the first ones to know.
Check out more Hozuki No Reitetsu impressions HERE.
Oh snap! Remember what I said about beach episodes being fun last week? Well, it appears I may have been misguided. Beach episodes are fun, but only if you’re not being haunted by the bitter ghost of your past, determined to destroy everything that you love by any means necessary.
From the very beginning, it looked like the whole world was conspiring against Banri and his friends. Mitsuo was being picked up from miles away, Chinami’s phone lost reception, there was traffic everywhere, and it looked like it would take an eternity to get to the beach. As 2-D kun’s road rage boiled to the surface, Kouko and Banri tried to appease him with snacks, but by the time everyone had finally been assembled, the heavens had opened and they all nearly turned around and went home. Luckily, Banri tried to make the best of a bad situation and revealed his skimpy speedos which brought a shocked smile to everyone’s face as he ran out into the rain with Kouko in what was a very satisfying, heartwarming moment. As if lit up by their smiles, the clouds eventually parted and the sun burned through, sending the newly invigorated band of friends on their way to the beach once more.
The rest of their day was spent making summer memories that would last a lifetime, but as the last firework was lost as sparks to the wind they found themselves exhausted and miles away from home. Kouko volunteered to take over the driving for 2-D kun and Banri decided to ride in the passenger seat to keep her awake, that was when everything went wrong. The ghost of Banri made a sudden resurgence and, using his godly powers, put Banri to sleep. Without Banri to keep her awake, Kouko’s eyes slowly drifted shut and the car began to speed up as she leaned forward on the accelerator…
What happened next was a pivotal plot point that left the audience utterly bewildered and me with my tongue caught in my throat. After sending him to sleep in the first place, the ghost of Banri was distraught with his own stupidity and could be seen sprinting through a sequence of abstract doors, unlocking more and more of Banri’s memory in a desparate attempt to jolt him awake. Only when he finally reached the final door and the words, “Just press on,” echoed from Linda’ s lips did Banri’s eyes jump open and he stomped on the brake, sending the car skidding as the screen cut to the ending credits.
Drama, thy name is Golden Time! That final scene absolutely blew me away. After 2 episodes of filler, I was not prepared for such an enormous turn of events. What had the most impact was that the sheer amount of unexpected emotion that was racing through the ghost of Banri. I knew that he was trying to break up Kouko and Banri, but I did not expect him to try and kill them, let alone regret his own actions! The adrenaline that was sent racing through my veins as he crashed through door after door in his checkerboard world, slowly unlocking more of the memory that had been eluding Banri for so long was unbelievable and it all came to a peak when Linda finally uttered, “just press on.” The fact that this was the last thing Banri had yet to remember about Linda could mean a number of things – either the ghost of Banri wanted to keep it from him and was forced to let him see to wake him up, or it is simply the final piece of the puzzle. Regardless, her inspirational words were enough to wake him up, but will that be enough? They were still going extremely fast! I feel sorry for Kouko who will undoubtedly shoulder the blame on herself, but more importantly, will anyone be injured? For all we know, Banri could hit his head and lose all of his memories again, or worse! Cliffhanger, why do you mock me so?
From a more critical standpoint, I thought that the animation of the final scene could have been a little better, but animation has never been Golden Time’s strong point. I also felt that the voice acting left a little to be desired and gave the impression that the ghost of Banri was crying rather than desperately trying to reach out for help. I would be lying if I said that this is the best series that JC Staff have ever made from an aesthetic standpoint, but from a story standpoint, it is definitely up there with the greats. What was otherwise a lovely trip to the beach was plunged into chaos and next episode how will everyone cope with the fallout? Tune in next week to find out.
Golden Time is currently simulcasting on Crunchyroll where new episodes can be found each week and watched on mobile devices, consoles, smart TVs and of course on PC.
For more impressions of winter’s best and worst, head over to our Anime Impressions page.
While the Shin Megami Tensei franchise has been very popular and many people are fans of Atlus’ games, you might not realize that when Shin Megami Tensei 1 was released on the Super Nintendo back in 1992 in Japan, it never made the journey West.
Now today Atlus USA has announced that they will be bringing the game to the iOS with an English translation with a price tag of $7.99. This is the port of the 2003 GBA version that was released in Japan and to go along with this announcement the company released a story synopsis, a few screenshots, and a gameplay trailer, both of which can be found below.
Step away from clear notions of good and evil, right and wrong. There are demons in the world, but whether they are ally or enemy depends on player actions. In Tokyo 199X, a mysterious murder leads to the emergence of demons and an escalating global conflict thanks to the rise of a charismatic rebel leader in possession of a demon army, and external forces that wish to crush such threats with extreme measures. As the protagonist, players have an unusual ability (via computer program) to communicate with and recruit demons to fight for them. As they collect demons, the program will allow you to store, summon, and fuse them to create the right team to negotiate the ever-changing balance of powers, and fight for the kind of world you ultimately wish to live in.
“Shangri-La” started out as a light novel back in 2004, written by Eiichi Ikegami and illustrated by Ken’ichi Yoshida. In the January of 2009 the light novel series was adapted into a Manga series by the same name, this time illustrated by Tasuku Karasuma. By April of the same year, “Shangri-La” was then turned into an anime series directed by Makoto Bessho and written by Hiroshi Onogi. Despite its popularity as both a light novel and a manga series, the anime met with mixed reviews and an all around average response.
The story, revolving around a young girl in a science-fiction world, would usually be met with open arms by audiences but it seems as though, this time, that wasn’t exactly the case. This all happened over six years ago and now, in 2014, Madman Entertainment has decided to release it down here in Australia hopefully with a better reception than when it first aired. Follow me on this adventure through a mixed up class system, a destructive AI, a young girl who just wants the best for her people and a world that wont give it to her easy. Follow me as we head towards “Shangri-La”.
Story
Living in a world ravaged by the effects of global warming, world citizens have been forced into the most severe kinds of class systems; most live in poverty but some of the lucky ones get to live somewhere safe from earthquakes and hail storms, a place called “Atlas” which stands on the destroyed foundation of Japan. Kuniko, a young girl with a huge imagination and a stubborn mentality, lives in the slums of “Duomo” with most of the other unfortunate Japanese people who have been forced into a pauper’s life. “Duomo” is a small town surrounded by forest land that continues to grow week after week, eventually it will take over the town and that, mixed with the earthquakes and the hail storms, is just going to make life all the more harder to live.
She and her comrades in the rebellious group called “Metal Age” are in constant conflict, not only with the forces behind the relocation of citizens to “Atlas” but also the Japanese military. They’re done with living life in fear and have begun suspecting that the people behind the “Atlas” project aren’t exactly doing their best to help the lower classes reach some sort of economical stability. Kuniko and friends fight for their people with the hopes that, one day, they can all lead a great and comfortable life in “Atlas”, their very own “Shangri-La”.
The problem with this series is not that the story is bad because it has all the fundamental qualities of a fantastic sci-fi adventure series, its problem is that it tries far too hard to be an intelligent anime but falls flat because of its simple lack of discipline. Despite following Kuniko’s uprising, the series also follows a great deal of other characters and small storylines that interconnect, fact is, most of those stories are full of holes and seem incomplete which makes one think; how is this story supposed to make sense in conjunction with other stories when it barely makes sense within itself?
“Shangri-La” tried its best to do many things but failed at pretty much every single one of those things which is actually extremely unfortunate because it had promise, it could have been something great if the writers just took a small step back and didn’t try so hard to be “the next best thing”. The series dealt with real-life issues like global warming and carbon tax but mixed it with supernatural themes which made absolutely no sense. Had this been an anthology-type series where each of these events took place within the same world but focused around different characters and issues, that would have been fantastic! Instead they chose to cram everything they could into a 24 episode series which didn’t end up making that much sense considering barely anything was explained or fleshed out. It was a case of simply not finishing what they started.
Unfortunately for the series, the characters didn’t exactly help the story, they actually made it worse. The addition of a sexually-charged transsexual character in “Shangri-La” was clearly not a decision that had much though behind it. I’m not saying the character was bad simply because she is transsexual but when a character like that is written this terribly it not only brings down an anime but also the community that the particular character belongs to, that’s due to an over-used anime trope that – at this point in time – should be long dead.
This character, alongside pretty much all the other characters, was written in a devastatingly poor manner; constant sexual innuendo even in times of great distress (most notably in the very final episode where everything is “coming to fruition”) is NOT good character writing. Constant use of outdated clichés is down right offensive and I think that maybe this lead to the mediocre response that this anime got when it was first released. Unfortunately it was not only Momoko (the transvestite character) that was written terribly…it was basically every character but it just so happened to be Momoko that got the brunt of the bad writing.
Visuals
Visually I’d say that “Shangri-La” was pretty good at best. It had some fantastic scenes where shots of the forest or of the city could be seen in full and they were beautiful but they were few and far between. The first episode had some brilliant animation especially when it come to the climactic action scene but its dip in the animation quality that was present in episodes after the first let me to believe they blew a lot of their budget almost instantly. While that may not be entirely true there was obviously a small drop in quality that was fairly noticeable…well, at least, it was noticeable enough for me to bring it up so I assume it will be the same for everyone else watching.
Characters weren’t designed too bad but you could definitely see who the important characters were seeing as the main character had bright pink hair while most of the normal citizens were…normal. That may be good for some anime watchers but for me I think it shows a lack of care, the series tries to be somewhat real but makes characters look outlandish and it just doesn’t quite match. The animation quality did occasionally get good during the action and climactic scenes but unfortunately they didn’t come around that often so you were waiting a while to see something great.
Audio
I will give “Shangri-La” a great deal of credit for having a fairly good soundtrack but takes points away for having an average English voice cast. The score for the series is mostly orchestral and it doesn’t often stray from that genre though in some cases the series does surprise by throwing a gritty RnB or rock style song at the audience that works well to disarm and surprise. The orchestral score suits the series well, usually I’m not too big of a fan of this kind of music style but when it fits this well I just have no choice but to give in and appreciate the music choice. It worked perfectly well with most of the scenes and did what it was supposed to do which is to add a heightened sense of feeling to audience members and I can’t give it any crap because it did exactly that, the voice acting on the other hand…it was not great.
Fact is, much like everything else in this anime, it was incredibly average; some characters were voice acted well at times but bad at other times and other characters were just down right terrible, there was no consistent quality of voice acting and it could have been the element that would have saved this series. Not all the blame can be placed on the voice actors though because, as I mentioned, at times they were brilliant – I think maybe it was just the lack of good writing that brought them down. It was a real shame to see because there were some scenes where characters actually spoke in quite a real manner, they swore, they used modern terms and they seemed to be having fluid conversations but these scenes were scarce and quite rare to come across which left me yearning for them as the series came to a close.
Extras
“Shangri-La The Complete Collection” didn’t have a great deal of extras and really only offered us the bare bones, much like most standard anime releases. The nice thing about the extras is that it came with episode commentary, something that is common yet at the same time somewhat uncommon. It’s nice just listening to a podcast-style conversation between some of the cast and crew and it does kind of make you appreciate the series a little more. There’s also a nice little piece of artwork on the flip-side of the front cover of the disc case which, while having no practical use, is brilliantly illustrated. Once again I’m not exactly going to take points away for not having any great extras because this seems to be the norm for anime.
Overall
At the end of the day, “Shangri-La” is a powerfully average series. Nothing about it is overly good yet it has elements that make you think it really isn’t that bad. I think if this story idea was put into the hands of a more “capable” team of developers it would have come out so much better than it did. The addition of unnecessarily unrealistic characters and silly plot points that get lost along the way are just two examples of series aspects that “Shangri-La” could have gone without. It still gets points for trying its hand at making an incredible story but it looses a lot of them by not having enough follow through to actually make sense with it.
I’d say that fans of both the light novel and the manga would also be fans of the anime, I’m not sure how much the story differs from its previous iterations but one would assume it wouldn’t stray far enough away from the original story to have fans not follow it over onto the next medium. It’s just a series that lost its way somewhere in the middle but these are my opinions so maybe it is worth a look for all of you out there who have read this and are still somewhat interested. I’ll leave you all with this: A little attention to detail goes a long way.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
As someone who walked into their local store to pick up a pre-ordered copy of the Record of Agarest War’s Really Naughty Limited Edition, the one with a steamy box covered in girls that contained a boob mouse pad and a pillow cover, I wouldn’t have had any issue picking up a physical version of Senran Kagura Burst if it was released like that in North America.
However not everyone has embraced themselves as much as I have and Marvelous AQL has released two promo videos for the soon to be released European physical version of Senran Kagura Burst highlighting those that might be too concerned to pick up a physical copy of the 3DS game. You can check those videos out below and if you are curious to see if the game is worth your time you can find our review of the North American release here.
Since NIS America is bringing Kadokawa Games’ Demon Gaze over to North America they are adding a bit of a spin to the game by offering some of their signature characters as extra party members. Today the company has announced that they will be offering free downloadable content for the first month after Demon Gaze is released which will allow players to bring some of Disgaea’s most iconic characters along with them.
The characters that will be offered are Etna, Flonne, Sicily, Asagi, and a Prinny. Currently Demon Gaze is set to be released in North America on April 22nd and Europe on April 25th.
Overview An anime about making a manga that will go on to become an anime based upon a manga about making manga, that is Bakuman in a nut-shell, but it is so much more than just that. Bakuman is a story about passion, dreams, hopes and love, it just happens to also be about making manga. What we have here is something incredibly unique, but simultaneously niche, the series details the ins an outs of the manga industry with a splash of romantic comedy on the side, if you aren’t all that interested in the behind the scenes workings of the manga world than you’re likely going to have a hard time with Bakuman. It is a pretty even 50/50 split of manga industry exploration and story of following your dreams and loves. However on top of all that Bakuman is 100% fun.
Story From the creator’s of Death Note, this is hardly the kind of series you’d expect. This is a romantic-comedy slice-of-manga-making-life anime that really is the furthest thing from Death Note. It follows Moritaka Mashiro the nephew of a once famed mangaka who died not long before the events of the series. Moritaka has a knack for drawing and is recruited by fellow student Takagi Akito to make a manga, the pretense being that Takagi would write the story and Moritaka would draw it. Things roll from there.
While the centerpiece of Bakuman is undoubtedly its journey through the manga industry of Moritaka and Takagi, the love story that accompanies it is given its fair share of spotlight as well. Moritaka has always had a crush on classmate Azuki and one discovering her goal of becoming a voice actress, vows that his manga will become an anime and that she will voice the lead in it. To top that off he then essentially proposes to her which she agrees to under the condition that they don’t see one another until their dreams come true.
The love story here is a bit tried and true and not unlike something that these two budding mangaka would have read before. There are times when this aspect of the story feels a little hollow and the love between the two seems to be misplaced. It is hard to believe in this kind of love and because of that it does end up being one of Bakuman’s weaker elements.
Bakuman’s strong suit is its rich exploration of the manga industry and the challenges of being a mangaka. The sleepless nights, the tireless toil that could likely be for naught and the chance that your hopes and dreams could be crushed in an instant. The life of a mangaka is truly rough and it makes for some compelling drama.
The cast here is quite well defined, in particular our two male leads. There is an interesting bit of characterization that tends to be pounded into audiences here though. That being that women and men are utterly unable to understand one another solely because they are a different gender. I personally found this to be very questionable and the consistent treatment of women as a different creature all together verged on offensive at times. Women are frequently portrayed as nagging, lacking any level of understanding and only valued on whether they are cute or not. It is a hard part of Bakuman to overlook but it is only a minor part of a rather solid character effort.
All in all Bakuman season 1 is quite an interesting look into the world of manga, it details the ins and outs of daily life for a mangaka and the challenges that they must face. The romance elements of Bakuman unfortunately fall flat for the most part due to weak characterization of the female cast. If you are intrigued by the idea of the behind the scenes look at manga making then Bakuman is more than worth your time as there has never been a series that details this topic in such length and realism.
Visuals and Audio J.C. Staff have done a decent job animated this manga about making manga, bringing it to life in vibrant colour. It isn’t the most consistent animation effort with drops in quality noticeable here and there. However when Bakuman is at its visual best it proves to be some of J.C. Staff’s greatest aesthetic work to date. The character designs are each distinct and memorable. The quality of the animation overall is above average but sadly it does have some down times although they are very minor.
Bakuman’s soundtrack is a great composition through and through with plenty of standout tracks. The music elevates the scenes to great heights and turns what would otherwise be a flat moment into a truly moving one. The theme song ‘Blue Bird’ is also worth noting, it opens every episode on a hopeful uplifting note and perfectly captures the series tone. This release from Madman Entertainment unfortunately doesn’t feature an English dub, so it is Japanese audio only with subtitles and it is very good though in its own right.
Extras As for special features, Madman Entertainment’s release of Bakuman season 1 is pretty bare-bones. The release doesn’t feature an English dub and instead simply features subtitles only. On top of that there are the usual clean opening and ending themes as well as trailers. It is a simple no-frills kind of release but it collects the entire first season in one release which is a plus.
Overall Bakuman is an anime for manga fans. It homes in a specific audience and gives them all they could ask for and more when it comes to exploring the manga industry. As for a story in and of itself, Bakuman is a passionate journey of identity and dreams. These two young mangaka dream big and in the quest to accomplish those dreams they find themselves. It is a classic tale if there ever was one and Bakuman does a solid job at it. While there is some issues with this series that can be hard to overlook, if you are interested in manga and the industry for it, this will prove to be well worth the watch. Bakuman is a solid anime series, but an even better manga industry exploration.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
