Crunchyroll has just announced that they have acquired the streaming rights to the brand-new action Anime; “Nobunagun“, which is a story that revolves around a Japanese school girl and her newly-gained supernatural powers. As mentioned, the series focuses on a young girl named Shio Ogura who has travelled to Taiwan for a school trip, while abroad she comes into contact with odd-looking monsters who seem to be malevolent, as monsters usually are.
A group of government agents titled “E-Gene Holders” arrive at the scene in the attempts to take down the creatures and save the innocent lives that have been thrown into the mix, these agents seem to be able to wield enchanted weapons which host the dead, but not forgotten, spirits of ancient historical figures. They use these weapons to fend of the onslaught but they can’t seem to hold back all of them, this results in Shio’s friend being targeted by the creatures, fortunetely for the girl she has a good friend like Shio who jumps in to rescue her which leads into the reveal that Shio herself happens to be one of these “E-Gene Holders” and her weapon contains the spirit of a great ruler; Oda Nobunaga, hence the name “Nobunagun“.
– Nobunagun, The Manga –
The Anime is set to begin its broadcast on the 5th of January at 5:00pm, for us here in Australia who happen to be living a day in the future it will obviously be coming out on the 6th which is today. The series’ episodes will be released every sunday and is available to free viewers living in North America, South America, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Demark, Iceland, Netherlands, Turkey, Spain, and Portugal, but they will have to wait an extra week before they can start watching the series, Premium Members can watch as soon as the series is released.
Mionix AVIOR 7000 Gaming Mouse Manufacturer: Mionix Platform: Windows Release Date: 10 January 2014 Price: $79.99 USD – Available Here Visual learner? No problem! Check out our video review and unboxing below!
Mionix’s AVIOR 7000 gaming mouse is the budget friendly version of the AVIOR 8200. The AVIOR 7000 sports the same ambidextrous design as its more powerful big brother at the cost of a slower internal processor and an IR-LED optical sensor only capable of tracking up to 7000 DPI. However, the AVIOR 7000 can be purchased for $10.00 cheaper at $79.99 MSRP.
Mionix takes the no frills route when packaging their mice. The boxes are small and the contents are Spartan. The box slides out of a stiff cardboard sleeve to reveal the mouse behind a clear shell and the USB cable tucked neatly away. The only other thing in the box is a sticker bearing the Mionix logo and quick start guide.
The mouse itself is coated in powder coat with a slight rubbery texture. It is possibly one of the most addictive finishes on a mouse. It feels velvety soft with just enough of a rubbery texture to keep a good grip on the mouse. There are two areas that are lit by LEDs which are capable glowing of 16.8 million different colours, the mouse wheel and the logo. The light is rather subdued in the logo area and a little brighter in the mouse wheel. There is only one light intensity setting, though the LED can display a solid, blinking, pulsating, or breathing effect.
As the mouse is designed to be ambidextrous, there are two buttons on either side of the mouse that can be manipulated with the thumb and little finger. They are positioned at a good angle are very easy to press even with the weak little finger. Personally I prefer the AVIOR’s ambidextrous design over the NAOS’ right handed design due to fact it provides two extra keys to macro on the mouse. The top of the mouse contains the traditional left, middle, and right clicks along with two buttons located below the mouse wheel. The mouse buttons are made from Omron mechanical switches, considered to be one of the best switches for mice on the market. The Omron switches give the left and right mouse buttons a nice crisp click and should last for 20 million presses. The mouse wheel has a nice feel, with a more rubbery coating compared to the rest of the mouse body. The two way wheel spins at the right balance of resistance and ease of movement. The middle click is also crisp, with no mushiness.
The AVIOR 7000 is a wired mouse and contains six feet of braided USB cable that terminates in a gold plated USB 2.0 plug. Six feet is plenty of room to reach behind most computer cases. I personally am a big fan of braided cables as I find they are less prone to tangling and snagging around other USB cables. On the bottom of the mouse are two gigantic PTFE, also known as Teflon, mouse feet. The large surface area ensures a smooth glide across the mouse pad.
The physical body of the mouse is full of curves. The mouse rides low to the table like a sleek sports car. The body is thin near the table and flares upwards. I have a small bone structure, so I find many mice on the market to be way a bit too wide for my comfort. I found the AVIOR 7000 to be one of the most comfortable mice I have tried in this regard. The length of the mouse is a bit long at roughly 12.5cm and may prove troublesome for some claw and other fingertip focused mouse grip styles. I found the AVIOR 7000 to be incredibly comfortable as a palm grip user. Because of my small stature, I find many mice on the market to be way too wide to be comfortable.
Driving the mouse is a 32bit ARM processor running at 32mhz. An ADNS 2210 Gaming Grade IR-LED optical sensor capable of reading up to 7000 dpi handles the actual tracking duties. The mouse itself can store up five profiles on the 128kb of built in memory.
Like the NAOS 8200, the AVIOR 7000 runs well as a plug and play mouse. However, the Mionix software suite adds the very important macro editing function. I find it a bit curious that the drivers are not under a unified structure. Instead an owner has to find the specific software suit for their model of mouse. The software suit itself is a full featured program. There, owners can record new macros, adjust sensor performance, tweak LED colours, and bind functions to the mouse. The layout is simple to use and macro recording is dead easy to do. The program comes with a Surface Quality Analyzer Tool that will help figure out if the mouse may encounter tracking issue because of a difficult to track surface like wood or glass.
The software allows for an incredible level of fine control. The AVIOR 7000’s sensor can be programmed with separate sensitivity settings for the X and Y axis, and the angle can be adjusted for those who tend to hold their mouse at an angle. The distance the mouse will track while it is lifted off the ground can be tweaked for low sensitivity gamers. I am disappointed by the fact the software can only scroll through three different DPI settings. As a Battlefield 4 player, I tend to keep at least four to five different sensitivity settings depending on the vehicle I am using.
The biggest weakness with the AVIOR 7000 is its software suite’s stability. Sometimes tweaking the mouse’s sensor causes the computer to stop detecting the mouse. It required me to replug the mouse into the computer, forcibly terminate the program through the task manager, and restart the software before the mouse and software would work normally. I found changing the sensitivity too many times in a short period also caused the computer to stop detecting the mouse. I was stuck reaching behind my tower to replug the mouse in the middle of a few Battlefield 4 matches because of this bug. Now, it is important to note that this review was done with a pre-release unit. It is possible that these firmware bugs will be ironed out by the time the mouse officially goes on sale.
The Mionix AVIOR 7000 is a very comfortable mouse with a great feature set. Priced at $79.99, I personally think it is a better buy than the 8200 series of mice. The difference is almost negligible unless you are an extremely high sensitivity gamer who will actually use levels beyond 7000 dpi. As soon as the serious bugs are ironed out in the software suite, the AVIOR 7000 will be one of the better deals for a high end gaming mice.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Life is full of tough questions – Did Han shoot first? What is this lump on my arm? Did I let the cat out? Why am I asking so many questions? But these are all trivial matters. Space Dandy is a series masterfully crafted to answer all the big questions that haunt humanity and it started off by bursting into sight in a fiery blaze, asking the most groundbreaking philosophical question of all… Boobs or butts?
All these women and only 2 hands. The curse of being Space Dandy.
Oh, how I have waited for this anime. Space Dandy has arrived and it is finally time for us to see if the latest diamond in Shinichiro Watanabe’s crown will glisten like the rest, or pale in comparison. What I can tell you for sure is that it is definitely something a little different. To give a little bit of synopsis to those reading this who haven’t been following the hype, Space Dandy is a sci-fi/comedy anime following the misadventures of the, “Galaxy-wide Alien Hunter,” Space Dandy. Episode 1 introduces Dandy and his adorable robot companion QT as they ‘hunt aliens’ inside a breastaurant called Boobies and meet a strange feline alien that they so aptly call Meow. One small distortion of time and space later and they find themselves on a strange planet full of huge, “harmless,” creatures that spend the next 5 minutes nearly killing them in a menagerie of different ways. That is until Dandy remembers his secret weapon and gets QT to activate it, blowing up his ship, the whole planet, and him and his crew along with it. A title card reads, “THE END,” and we are left to wonder what the hell just happened, and why we are suddenly sweating and sporting a serious extension from the waist.
Space fever, Space feverrrr. You know how to do it!
Space Dandy[speɪs dandi] A dandy… in space
Yes, that is all we are told about our valiant hero Mr S Dandy. He is simply a flamboyant guy in space that hunts unknown aliens with his magnificently overstated hairdo. Though, judging by his outdated equipment, his profits aren’t reinvested in his little business, but rather into hair gel, breastaurants, and the beautiful women that come with them. He is literally Han Solo, dumped into the Gintama world and then launched into space with nothing but his blaster, a fabulous white jump suit and a narrator that doesn’t give a care in the world for the sanctity of the fourth wall. Simply put, he is amazing.
What do you mean hairspray is flammable?
What was nowhere near as strong, but everywhere near as crazy as the Space Dandy himself, was the setup which I felt floundered a little under the weight of the madness that the show was trying to blast into our retinas. If the objective of this show is to become Japan’s first ‘extreme slice of life’ anime then its setup was brilliant, introducing all the characters, throwing in a few laughs, and even squeezing in some space and time distortion for good measure. However, if this show actually means to tell a story, which in all honesty I wouldn’t mind if it avoided in favor of the extreme slice of life idea, then the next few episodes need to do a really good job of establishing a goal or motive because as it stands I have no idea what’s going on.
Even in the future nobody understands Evangelion
Luckily, what it lacked in plot it made up for in everything else. I found the artwork vibrant, colourful and for the most part the animation was fluid if not of varying quality. Complimenting the animation perfectly was the wonderful sound design that blew me away in a way that I haven’t felt since Cowboy Bebop. That comparison is mostly drawn from the funky jazz slap bass that thundered throughout the fight scenes. Somewhere between that music and the enormity of everything erupting on screen I was left in a state of pure ecstasy. If Kill la Kill is the ridiculously over-the-top anime of the season, then Space Dandy is its older cousin that gets inappropriately drunk at a wedding and tries to make out with the bride.
Why is space white, magical paper? Tell me or you’ll end up like the robot!
Take none of this as a bad thing though. Those who were expecting Bebop’s spiritual successor will be crying tears of blood within seconds of the title card, but any hope of this being remotely like Bebop was misplaced the second that the title was announced. I went into this anime expecting … well … a dandy in space and if there is one thing that I certainly got it was exactly that. Will this anime live up to the expectations set by its creators? Maybe. It is not ever going to be as monumental and perfect as Bebop and it won’t invoke the same kind of emotion as Sakamichi no Apollon; that much is a fact. Will it be a masterpiece in its own right though? Well, it has made a first impression that I won’t soon forget so let’s see what it can do.
If you’re looking for enjoyment and nothing more than that then this is the anime to follow this season. It has explosions, beautiful women, an idiot masculine hero, and it is so silly that the figurehead on the villain’s spaceship is literally the Statue of Liberty choking on a ballgag. It’s a young boy’s power fantasy cranked up to 11 and fronted by a man with more bravado than brains. Tacky and stupid? Maybe. Hilarious and mind-blowingly awesome? You bet your ass it is. Stay tuned!
Watching it for the plot … Yeah … That thing
Space Dandy is simulcasting in both subbed and dubbed formats and can be found airing on Adult Swim’s Toonami block or streaming on FUNimation in the US. UK viewers can catch it streaming on Wakanim. And also on Madman with new episodes – both subbed and dubbed – will go up on the Madman Screening Room each Monday, at 1am AEDT.
For more impressions of winter’s best and worst, head over to our Anime Impressions page.
More Space Dandy Impressions will be coming in upcoming weeks, check them out HERE.
Hajime No Ippo – Rising Episode 13 – A Fist That Picks You Up
Both Episodes 12 and 13 were released on the same day and I believe they were shown back to back so you’ll excuse me for ending the last episode’s Anime Impression abruptly but know that it to intensify what is looking like the last episode of Ippo’s fight against Ryuuhei, I’m going to jump right back into it: SLAM! Ippo’s attack lands a hit directly into Ryuuhei’s face and he hits the ring floor like a bag of cement, finally Ippo’s counter-counter works! I have to say though, there isn’t a great deal of fighting within this episode, don’t get me wrong there’s still plenty of action but it mostly centres on what the two fighters are thinking and their motivation for winning the fight to which it seems Ryuuhei’s motivation is that of a fairly sad one but did you honestly expect any different from a fighter like him.
Ippo slams Ryuuhei and he hits the deck, the boxers and friends of Ippo watching from the seats in the stadium all get goosebumps, they knew Ippo was a beast in the ring but they didn’t realise he was this good. Now I want to refer you to what I spoke about a couple episode impressions ago; this new Dempsey Roll that Ippo has developed puts a great deal of stress and tension on his legs and, in fact, his entire lower body so stopping himself like that mid-dempsey is not a very good idea at all but he’s doing it to win and this is an Anime so you can bet he’ll continue doing it until he comes out on top. Ryuuhei manages to get to his feet, blood drips down his face from his eyes but he’s nowhere near ready to throw in the towel and give it all up, the fight continues.
No matter how many times Ryuuhei stands against Ippo, he can’t seem to do anything against him, the tides have truly turned and I love how you can almost see the damage that Ippo has taken being transferred over to Ryuuhei. Because Ippo now has some room to breath, he’s slowely recovering from fatigue whereas Ryuuhei is now feeling the effects of being on the action end of a flying fist and it’s really getting to him. Like I mentioned above; a fair bit of the episode deals with the mental properties of the fighters: Ippo once again looks back on this time in his life, he sees all that Ryuuhei has done, he sees his family and friends backing him up, he sees what he needs to do and that is to defeat Ryuuhei not just for himself but for the honour of the Japanese boxing league, he cannot let a man with no respect for the game win, it just wouldn’t be right and he uses it to fuel his fists.
Ryuuhei, on the other hand, has no-one and wants no-one, he’s dark, he’s lonely and the only reason he wants to win this fight now is to prove that you need to do things yourself, you need to grasp things with your own two hands and trust nobody because those people will never come through for you in the end. He remembers the events that lead him to become the monster that he is; the murder of his father by his hands, the abandonment of his mother and his perpetual loneliness. The two fighters, like all in the series, are incredibly contrasted, you favour Ippo’s victory but you’re still forced into feeling some sort of sympathy for Ryuuhei, this man, this demon. The fight kicks off again and after some fairly heavy rumbling, the true fight begins and this time it is more of a race to the finish than anything else.
Both men are feeling fatigued despite breathing room or how many hits they’ve taken in the recent moments of the fight, it has been going on for seven rounds and they’re bodies wont last long, both are ready to finish this and both believe that they can. Ippo slides into a Dempsey Roll and the routine stars again; Ryuuhei notices, he jumps back to get a better view and lunges in to stop Ippo in his tracks only this time Ryuuhei has learnt, he’s evolved and instead of following through…he stops just as Ippo shifts his roll and goes in for an attack, Ryuuhei sees that Ippo will miss him and goes in for HIS attack but Ippo ducks out of the way, they were both one step ahead of each other but it just seems as though the hero of our story was one step too far for Ryuuhei.
Ippo breaks into a Dempsey Roll that makes contact with Ryuuhei’s head, each punch gets a clear shot of Ryuuhei and he gets pummelled almost to death by Ippo…he falls and the fight is over. Ippo remains the champion. He throws his hands up in the air and the crowd cheers as Ryuuhei is taken away on a stretcher, what a brutal end to what was a brutal match. It ended the way it should’ve; with a Dempsey Roll, even though it was obvious that was how it was going to happen it was still justified because the challenger openly said he would destroy the Dempsey Roll. Ippo made his way out of the ring where his leg muscles were checked for damage and, after using the Anti-Dempsey Roll a fair few times, they were fairly ripped up yet recoverable which was something I didn’t particularly enjoy, I actually would have liked to have seen Ippo retire from the game after fighting his hardest opponent and doing more damage to himself than his challenger could but this is just the way it goes.
Ippo lives to fight another day which I don’t think can be said for Ryuuhei who is shown to need immediate surgery due to his cracked skull, his sunken eye, a myriad of broken bones and all around muscle damage but that’s what happens when you go up against the boxing world’s greatest technique. The fight between Ippo and Ryuuhei is finally over and the champion has come out the victor to no-ones surprise but that’s how these Shonen-type series’ go. I’m very much looking forward to the coming storylines which should revolve around Takamura and his coming fights so keep an eye out for that arc!
Check out more Hajime No Ippo – Rising Impressions HERE.
Late last year the king of Japanese animation, Hayao Miyazaki, announced that he would be retiring from the Anime movie game shortly after the completion and release of his/and studio Ghibli’s latest work of brilliance “The Wind Rises“, but it seems as though he may just go and do what he’s previously done in that past and withdraw his retirement.
He may still be in the game! A comment by Toshio Suzuki, a close colleague of Miyazaki, was made on a Japanese radio station on New Years Eve and, even though he went into no great detail, he basically mentioned that he didn’t think this is truly the end for Miyazaki and that he may soon make a return. Even his close friends and co-workers don’t believe this is the end for the legend.
Miyazaki constantly retires just to return to the industry shortly after, he’s done it throughout the years and every time he does so it brings fans all over the world to tears, hopefully this will be the last time the Anime world gets a retirement scare from Mr. Miyazaki and he comes back bigger and better than ever. Keep it going, Hayao Miyazaki, you’re not done making masterpieces yet!
Hajime No Ippo – Rising Episode 12 – The Anti-Dempsey Perfected
We’re thrown into what seems like the second last episode of the season with high electricity and even higher tension. The fight between Ippo and Ryuuhei continues and we’re really shown the brutality of both fighters within this match more than we’ve ever seen before, I know it’s hard to believe but once you see them pummel each other into submission you get a real idea of just how ferocious these two are. Ryuuhei got the drop on Ippo in the last episode and by the end it had begun wearing him out, he was getting lethargic and for the most part he was getting beaten…well that’s nothing compared to what Ryuuhei does to him within this episode.
Ryuuhei spends most of the episode destroying Ippo, he continues with his odd stance but you begin to notice him taking small chances here and there simply to quicken Ippo’s defeat and possible death which, by the end of the episode, that is exactly what Ryuuhei is going for. The thing you notice above all else is Ryuuhei’s facial expressions throughout the match,at the beginning of the episode he was a stone cold statue, his expression was blank and for all intents and purposes he really didn’t care for the match but by the end of it he’s smiling demonically, he’s ready to literally beat the life out of Ippo and there’s a good chance that he could!
Now keep in mind that Ippo is already being beaten, he is in no way on the winning side and he knows that Ryuuhei has the key to absolutely decimating his Dempsey Roll but, in true Anime fashion, he goes for it regardless and it gets shot down swiftly by Ryuuhei’s destructive counter, Ippo is almost down for the count but, once again in true Anime style, he’s back up on his feet and ready to make another stupid mistake. He goes for the Dempsey Roll again and gets shot down by Ryuuhei…again! This is one thing I never liked about sports Anime in general, let alone Hajime No Ippo; they do the things they really shouldn’t and while I know this makes for exciting Anime it is very predictable and, sometimes, unbelievable but I suppose the “ends justify the means”, so to speak.
The slaughter continues, by this point in time Ippo’s face is just a lumpy mess and it looks like this unlucky cat has hit the last of his nine lives. Ryuuhei’s fists are relentless to say the very least, he’s ready to kill Ippo, he says it himself! His smile grows wide, his pupils dilate like he’s under the effects of a heavy drug and he’s going in for the kill, he even fights just as dirty as he did before and elbowed Ippo in the spine, he takes a great deal of damage from that but it doesn’t look like it’s over. Ippo has a moment of clarity though, he looks back on recent events that have centred around Ryuuhei and himself, he realises that he must win! Ryuuhei continues to pummel Ippo and the coach seems to be contemplating throwing in the towel, Ryuuhei lunges forward for a devastating right but…no hit.
It hard cuts to Ippo using Ryuuhei’s extended arm as a guide to doing the Dempsey Roll which is a great throwback to the series because, had you watched the other seasons, you’d know that Ippo had many training sessions wherein which he practised his Dempsey Roll by shoving a pole horizontally into a wall and working around it, it’s a fantastic throwback and it’s also a little bit of fan service for Hajime No Ippo fans. Back to the scene, Ippo darts around Ryuuhei’s arm but the challenger jumps back just as he’s done to counter Ippo the last couple of times, Ippo continues with the roll as Ryuuhei, once again, lunges forward for what he thinks is a punch that will bring Ippo down but it’s not going to go down that way, not this time! Ippo stops mid-roll and Ryuuhei continues with his punch, he cannot stop the movement of his follow-through and this gives our champion the perfect chance to nail him one more time. BOOM!
Check out more Hajime No Ippo – Rising Impressions HERE.
Xbox Entertainment Studios has made plans to create an original documentary series about the video game industry to debut exclusively on Xbox in 2014. Xbox will be working with a young multi-platform media company called Lightbox, started up by two award winning cousins; the two-time Academy Award winning producer Simon Chinn and Emmy winning producer Jonathan Chinn.
Simon Chinn had this to say:
“Our collaboration with Xbox offers an unparalleled opportunity to make a unique series of films around the extraordinary events and characters that have given rise to the digital age.”
Nancy Tellem, President of Xbox Entertainment Studios said:
“These stories will expose how the digital revolution created a global democracy of information, entertainment and commerce, and how it impacts our lives every day.”
The first film in the ground-breaking series looks in to the events surrounding the mysteries of the great video game burial of 1983, where Atari buried millions of unsold E.T. game cartridges a landfill in New Mexico. With the direction of filmmaker Zak Penn (X-Men 2, Avengers), the episode will document the excavation of the Atari landfill which is planned to happen early this year.
The series will air exclusively on Xbox One and Xbox 360 in 2014 and will be available globally in all markets where Xbox Live is supported.
Plastic Pirahna’s debut game Rekoil is set to be released on January 28th for the PC, and January 29th for the XBLA.
The game is being published by 505 Games, and is said to be a first person arena shooter that boasts a playstyle reminiscent of this genre’s predecessors. The Counter Strike inspired game will allow the players a huge arsenal of weapons, all available to every player regardless of their time spent playing, an uncommon feature of FPS games in recent years. At launch, the game will have 10 maps available for play, seven different game types, five unique classes, and modding capabilities.
Winter is upon us, and as the snow begins to settle here in the UK, I am warmed by the fact that this season the anime gods have smiled upon me. Why venture into the great white beyond, when I can stay inside, basking in the warm glow of my monitor and the welcoming embrace of characters I have come to love and those who I have yet to meet. Step in from the cold (or the scorching heat if you’re from Australia like most of our staff *shakes fist at the heavens*). Let me give you a peek at what’s to come and provide you with adequate reason to blow off your beloved friends and family for the next 3 months. Here are my 5 prime picks of Winter 2014.
Oh, how long have I waited for this anime. Shinichiro Watanabe, why do you tease me so by hovering a new original series in front of my face and then telling me nothing about it for months?! Absolutely everything about Space Dandy screams potential and I have honestly not been this excited to dive into an anime since Watanabe’s last magnificent foray into direction, Sakamichi no Apollon. Looking to take elements from the classic sci-fi anime of the 90’s while adding a flavour that, from the trailers, I can only compare to the unique and inspired feel of Red Line or Gintama, if this series hasn’t caught your eye already, it should have. Expect a crazy, sexy, and side-splittingly hilarious romp through the universe that has no brakes and wouldn’t use them even if it had any. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on this anime week by week on our Anime Impressions page, so keep an eye out!
Being part of the strange faction of people that adore anime, but have minimal interest in manga, it takes a hell of an interesting manga for me to have actually heard of it. But for the last few months I’ve been swamped with people constantly telling me how amazing Noragami is and judging by the intriguing synopsis and what little of the anime has been teased so far I can see why.
The series follows a minor god called Yato who simply wants people to worship him. Though, without a single shrine to his name and no partner to help him, his cause seems lost. That is until his luck is reversed when he saves the life of a beautiful girl and in the process acquires a new partner. With his new aide, Yato sets off on his quest to become famous by any means necessary.
In all honesty, I think this series would struggle to not be amazing, considering the strength of its constituent parts. Bones, the studio behind the brilliant Full Metal Alchemist, are heading up the animation and behind them is a sublime lineup of voice actors that are all hugely experienced, from the main character right down to the lowliest of lowly support characters. With all of that driving force behind a shōnen that is quirky, funny, and packed with potential, I can’t possibly see this not being excellent.
After spending a year half asleep, spawning awful series widely considered to be poor, plotless vessels, made purely to pander to a demographic, Kyoto Animation are finally releasing something that I am excited about. By no means should my pessimism regarding KyoAni be misconstrued as hate, but rather as disappointment. My relationship with them is like that of a man supporting one of the world’s best sports teams that can never win a trophy. Hyouka, Haruhi, and even Lucky Star showed me that KyoAni is one of the best animation companies in the world, but ever since they began using source material made effectively in-house, gems are few and far between.
While nowhere near as masterful as Hyouka, Chuu2Koi is still an exceedingly charming show that had me glued to my screen in season 1. It has a wonderful cast of characters that I can’t wait to reunite with and as you would expect from KyoAni it is beautifully animated in every respect. Lovers of moe will adore this show, and while I have absolutely no clue where the plot will go after Yuuta and Rikka effectively rode off into the sunset at the end of season 1, I suspect that even if it has minimal actual story it will still be wonderfully entertaining. A must watch for anyone that loves cuteness, romance, and cringey humour.
The time has come for my surprise pick of the season, Nourin, a classic romcom removed from the average highschool setting and thrown into the unknown reaches of rural Japan. It is here that we meet our main character, Hata Kousaku, in a slump of depression following the sudden retirement of his favourite idol, and national treasure, Kusakabe Yuka. After being coaxed out of bed by his friends, he turns up to class only to find that his dream girl, Yuka, has transferred to his agricultural school.
Sounds like a pretty standard shock setup for a romance anime right? Well, let me tell you why I still have faith in Nourin. Silver Link. This studio has been on a roll for a while now and judging by the art and the relatively conservative PV I am seriously hoping that this series will favour good writing over the smut which plagues far too many anime in this genre nowadays. You have my faith Silver Link, please don’t mess this up!
Last up on my list is an anime that has been the centre of attention among Jump readers ever since it was announced back in May 2013; Or, at least, ever since they found out that SHAFT would be producing it… Yes, that’s right, the masters of neck-bending, kanji smothering, but nevertheless, astoundingly beautiful animation are making their first … well … normal anime since Denpa Onna, a series that garnered a wildly mixed response in spring 2011.
Considered to be masters of their craft after producing Madoka and the Monogatari series, it came as a shock to a lot of people that SHAFT would be stepping over to the romcom genre which is already so saturated. But, what we need to consider is that firstly, money is not an issue for SHAFT. The Madoka movies thoroughly lined their coffers so Nisekoi isn’t a simple cash-in. Secondly, Nisekoi is just about short enough that it is still conceivable that SHAFT could cover all of it, given a couple of series, much like how To LOVE-Ru was handled by Xebec. This isn’t a show like One Piece or Naruto which is so long that it would be obscene to ask for crisp, perfect animation all the way through so Jump might have just wanted the best people for the job, rather than the cheapest. All signals point towards an adaptation that SHAFT really want to put their own label on and I can’t wait to see if their midas touch strikes gold once again, or if Nisekoi will fall flat. Hell, they’re only human after all.
The Finnish indie game developer Apex Games Ltd have launched a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo for their first title, Demon Core. Though the shooter game has been under development for a while, the team still has a lot to do before they meet the vision they’ve set themselves for creating Demon Core.
The goal is to raise $180,000 in 2 month with some stretch goals for DLCs. The funds will go towards adding features still lacking in the game on top of just getting it on top the shelves. Company CEO Mikko Karsisto said:
“The goal of the campaign was put together by estimating the costs that are still to be covered. We concluded that we want to try and raise to full amount with a single campaign, instead of raising a smaller amount and then coming around again for a second round”.
The campaign can be found here with details on all the stretch goals and perks along with information about the game, the team and their vision of the game. We hope to see the game released later in 2014 for PC and Mac.
Ryuuhei spends most of the episode destroying Ippo, he continues with his odd stance but you begin to notice him taking small chances here and there simply to quicken Ippo’s defeat and possible death which, by the end of the episode, that is exactly what Ryuuhei is going for. The thing you notice above all else is Ryuuhei’s facial expressions throughout the match,at the beginning of the episode he was a stone cold statue, his expression was blank and for all intents and purposes he really didn’t care for the match but by the end of it he’s smiling demonically, he’s ready to literally beat the life out of Ippo and there’s a good chance that he could!
